Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-02-21
LA BELLE FRANCE.


trenchmen are in the habit of
speaking of their country as La
Belle France; and some travellers,
especially English, say that is an
expression Of vanity, and that the
country is not entitled to be called
beautiful But, so far as l am
competent to judge, it is an
ExQUIsITILY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.
1t is all | anticipated, and more
That any one can pass through the
charming land, with his eyes open,
and look at the endless variety of
hill and dale, mountain and mead
ow, with limpid rivers and streams
winding through broad valleys or
dashing in cateracts down mountain
gorges, and count the varieties of
forest and fruit trees and shrubs,
and behold the production found in
temperate and semi tropical climates
and observe the care and taste ex-
hibited in the agriculture of the
country, and enjoy the bright sun
shine, even in mid-winter, and
still deny that it is a beautiful land,
can only be accounted for on the
ground that he has erected a stand
dard of beauty not found in this
world, or is incapable of appreciating
a lovely country when he sees it
If France is not a beautiful country,
where is one to be found? fit is
not finely cultivated, where Is its
superior in that regard? If it has
not a great variety of natural pro-
ductions, what country excels it ?
What nation of its range of climate
produces greater variety of useful
and beautiful vegetation ? What
nation, large or small, in the Old or
New world, excels France in vari-
ETY. of trees, fruits, flowers, vines,
shrubs, grasses, grain, roots, vegeta-
bles,-everything in short, to sustain
life or please the eye?
FRANCE POSSESSES A CLIMATE
not unlike that of the Virginias
Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee;
and contains just about that area.
But it is not as cold in winter in
Northern France as in Kentucky.
while Southern France is milder
than South Carolina in summer
Here is Nice, In the middle of Janu-
uary, the gardens are full of flow
ers, and oranges, and lemons, and
the hills are covered with the ever
green olive tree, whose fruit has on
ly just been picked; while as far
north as Paris, water had scarcely
congealed up to New Years day.
In the greater part of France there
are really but three seasons: summer.
autumn. and spring. Think of that,
We dwellers on the shores of the lakes
and on the great prairies of the
West, whose blood is chilled by the
piercing blasts of winters winds.
and who hurry over the snow-clad,
frosted earth, shivering beneath a
wrapping of woolen and furs!
The whole eastern side of France,
from Prussia to the Mediterranean,
a distance of five hundred miles, is
broken up by mountains and precip-
itous hills for 100 to $50 miles in
width. The south of France, from
Bayonne, on the Bay of Biscay, to
Nice, among the Maritime Alps,
near Italy, is rigid with mountains
from an average width of 100 miles;
while the peninsula of the Province
of Bretagne is also mountainous
But among those mountains there
are thousands of
BEAUTIFUL SUNNY VALLEYS,
exceedingly fertile and richer in
ProductiYeness; while the mountain
slopes and steep hill sides, which,
IN appearance, are poor, barren, or
waste lands are put to uses which
yield larger profits than can be de-
rived from the level lands of West
ern France. On the mountains of
Northeastern France are grown i'm
mense quantities of chestnuts, which
constitute quite an article of food,
and are eaten by nealy every one.
Millions of acres Of vineyards are
planted on the hill-slopes and noun
tain-sides; and other millions of hill
and vale are devoted to the growth
Of the mulberry tree, the olive,
date, fig, almond, orange, peach, and
other fruits, l saw, between Toulon
and Nice, in a district of one hun
dred miles, at least, half a million of
acres that are mainly devoted to the
growth OF the olive tree. The noun.
tain sides are clothed with these
evergreens to their very tops, where.
ever there was earth enough in
which the roots could hide or hold.
FRANCE Is DRAINED gY FIVE RIVERS.
whose water sheds off the rains of
nine-tenths of the country: First
The Northeastern provinces inclu.
ding Alsace and Lorraine, drain in
the Rhine and its branches. Sec