Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-29
AGRICULTURAL.
a Absorption Of a French Model
Farm.

nv, near Douai. Here are 232 hectares
(about $40 acres, all farmed by one man,
whose farm buildings alone are valued
at $4,000 francs, and whose working cap
ital is nearly three times that sum. The
farm belongs (sxcept 20 hectares leased
from various propTietors) to the three
brothers Fievet, one OF whom is col
onel In the artillery, another bsrrister
at Douai, while the third MANAGES the
farm. The pecuiiarity, TO an English
eve, is the almost total absence OF grass
land in a farm kept up specially for fat
tsniug sheep and cattle. There are only
three hectares Of natural 10 eadow, twelve
of artificial grass, and fourteen OF hiUer-
yauGes frye and vetch soVIn together. to
be cut as greenmeat for the cRttle). The
fact is, most of the fattening is done
with the refuse of the beetroOt factories
attached 70 the farm, which uSt up not
only the produce of the rs hectares sown
with beet, but also that of q good many
farms in the nsighb0rhsood. About
third Of the farm is laid down in wheat,
the average yield being rather more than
33 bushels to the acre, though some OF
the land yields more than half as much
again as this. The worth of the corn crop
is nearly IS much as that OF the beetrooG
viz: e40 per t.ectsre (2a acres.)
IA6 Gl1A ID NbEL Ll bAAAA AAASLCs LIZ
ticsable points are the small value of the
cat crop-the yield is large, nearly double
that Of the wheat; but those who nave
driven in France know that oats over
there are too cheap to pay; and let us
remark that there Is no pleasanter way
OF seeing the country than to drive; the
distances between interesting places are
usually too great for walk, and the aO-
senoe of turnpikes and the cheap hlre OF
a tilbury' make driving economical.
Those who have "put up" at French
inn know how fRllaciOus is the idea OF
" the FrenchmRn's horse" and have
found cut that the ostler errs generally
on the side OF morbid anxiety TO over
feed his beasts, which he would hardly
do if the Oat wss remunerative crop.
The reason, OF course, Is that some lana
will not carry any other corn crop ana
that the French Calf, having entirely
forgotten (if he ever knew the value OF
porridge, there is nobody to compete with
the horses which are proportionsliy mueh
fewer in France than in these ISLANDS.
The other psculiarity is that, though he
lives In the department of the Nordi nj.
FieVet does Dot grow single potato.
We spoke on horses he keeps thirty
seven, having quite given up the draught
cattle which are used by his neighbors,
as Londoners know they are by the
farmers round Brighton. HIS cattle are
there to enjoy themselves, not to work.
Every year some 800 beasts and z4OO
sheep pass through his stalls. Reckon
ing three months as the average time OF
fattening, we get 125 beasts and 600
sheep on the farm st time. The chief
gain from this fattening ia the manure,
! which enables MIN TO get crops which,
| compared with the low French average,
| are astonishing. NJ. Barral reckons the
gross value OF crops and manure, (of
everything, in fact, except the sugar fsc-
/ toryl. at $50 francs per heetare, about
/ gI4 los Der acra. This includes seed corn
and straw. We must also remember
| the capital, including that sunk in farm
buildings, is more than $50 an acre.
Now, in calculating the profits of M.
! Fievet, We must bear in mind that ID.
ds Lavergns Teokons the average gross
value Of French crops at IS per heetare
it is certainly eS III the northwest, and
at least el2 or e5 per acrol in the de-
/ partmenU OF the N0rd. In England (he
ssys) the average is only el0 per hectare
| Ce4 per acre. though in many places it
rises to more than eS per acre. The net
return of the farm, after subtrscting rent
of land and buildings, interest and capi-
tsl, taxes, expenses, etc., Is about four
1 teen per cent. a good many Of the la
bOrers are fed on the farm so that,
while the yearly wages are $1,000, the
food costs Just half that sum, and the
manure brought in, in the shape OF addi-
tional beetr0Ot refuse, guanO, ETC., costs
as much as the foO6s The rent is also
set low doubtless by family arrange
ment) so that the net return Including
interest on capital and pure gain. is
good third of the Whole gross yearly
value. Throughout France the net re-
turn is not more than tenth Of the
gross return in England 1t is probably
about fifth. The rent, by the way, is
rather more than e2 an acre and the
clear gain, after rent, interest, and every
thing have been allowed for, is about
e. 81 an acre. Our agricultural readers
will be interested in comparing these re-
suits with those obtained on English
model farms. It is gratifying to cur
self-coneeit 10 see how French writers
always look up to us in these matters
Even in England they don't beat
that" is q phrase to denote that the
/ Frenchman has done something to be
! really proud OF. We doubt il there are
many farms, however, except in our
most highly farmed counties, in which
the farmer puts By so much every year
I as he pays his landlord. But then at
Maspy they have the advantage of
/ cheap labor, wages and food together
not exceeding "a per acre. Besides NJ.
/ Flevet brings a capital OF nearly e26 per
acre to bear upon his land, the average
working capital ia France being eonsid-
! erabiy less than G2 I0s., ana in England
not rising much above IS per acre. 1t
is only lately that so much has been
spent on this farm and yet, thanks to
careful and clever management, It was
productive enough so long ago as l843 70
deserve special notice from the French
agricultural inspectors. Why should
NOT some OF our tourists this year take
an opportunity OF examining it2 The
Nord is so like England il climate, soil
and other conditions that the two eOun
tries may be fairly pitted against each
other.
OF course the bsrnt hills and water
meadows OF the Cote R0tie the sheep
farms by Roquefort, where the fiocks are
kept in caves during the heat, and such
like samples of eccentric farming, are
more amusing; but the study Of farm
like Masny could not fail to be profitable.
Nj. Rarrsl is great on the manure ques-
ton. He uses ths favOrite French
phrase, stotioue ehinsjqae; and insists
that in order to keep up the productive
ness of a farm you must put rather more
into it than you taSe out. NJ Fievet (he
tells usl Keeps this chemical balance true,
as far as nitrogen and the phOsphates are
concerned, By his importations Of
squeezed beetrOot, aax-seed and other
refuse, and by sheep and cattle feeding.
He seems 10 buy potash every year to
some small extent, But is it true tasks
M. de Lavergne) that yon must bring in
| from outside such mass Of mater 10
! order to preserve "the chemical equi-
| librium2n VIII not nature do it for you
in great degree Carbon, for instance,
/ is drawn from the soil in grest quanti-
! ties, and seldom consciously restored, be-
cause carbonlc acid is brought back by
half dozen natural agencies. In ordi-
nary cultivation a fall0w suffices to bring
the land back to bearing condition rota-
ton of crops, with q green crop ploughed
IN now ana then, will do the rest; green
crops are turning the woods OF 3 asst
| Prussia into fertile land, as they have
turned the sands OF Flanders. NJ. de La
vergne, then, seems TO have come round
| to the new heresy that you can get on
without artificial manure-indeed that,
except for special purposes, you had bet
ter not use it. For the small French
| DroDriptor this faIIa hofh xa,aua. - AZ 10