The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-03-20
FRENCH FARMING.
The Everyday Life Of the Farmer - Their
Homes, Food, Hammers and Customs.

EhENOh GAnMAANUe
The Everyday Life of the Farmer - Their
Homes, Food, Manners and Customs.
A pleasantly-written article in Hdr-
per'S Monthly gives US some very clear
pictures of agricultural life In the North
Of France. 1t differs from that in the
South, and perhaps also from that of
other portions. The farmers family,
with whom the writer stayed, were pros
p~erous-the grandfather having made
considerable money and bought a house
once belonging to q noble family. A
widow and three SOM now own it, rent
ing a part Of it to a farmer on shares
who is called q granger. If he paid his
rent in money he would be called a
renter.
The house is of one story; the walls
are twenty-eighti inches thick; there is a
kitchen and four large rooms. The
floors are all of brick or tile. There is
not a carpet and but n looking-glass
in the house. The garnet is used as a
granary. At the front of the house is
barn-yard, woodward and well-yard.
The well stands in front of the door.
The farmers cottage is of stone, one end
of it being the stable.
The family has hot coffee, vegetable
soup, toast and wine for breakfast. The
sons sit down to it with their hats on.
They bake sixteen-pound loaves OF
bread every two weeks, the loaf meas
airing half a yard across. They have
dinner and q 4-o'clock lunch of bread,
wine and a piece Of pie; and supper Of
vermicelli, warmed-up beef, goats milk
cheese and cherries. The cooking is
mostly done on the hearth, the chimney
being large and old-fashioned. They
have a range with five small CRATES in it.
They use charcoal and use it very spar
ingly. In winter there is a stove in the
mothers sleeping-room and then the
whole family lives there. They keep
Good Friday, and one of the boys goes
a-fshing-that is, he draws the water
from a little pond near by, and picks
the fish out of the mud ct the bottom.
They have blue berries and omelet and
cooked prunes. On Sunday they have
vermiceli soup, boiled beef and carrots,
cabbages stewed with one or two little
pigeons taken off of the nest, and chick.
ems. black coffee and rum.
They dance on Sunday afternoon, al.
though the priests are opposed to it
Hired women get from $40 to $50 G
year, but they do not get as much to cal
as they do in the United States. AL
the family wear wooden shoes, costing
about II cents q pair. They can weal
them a month. They make a great
Gathering on the tile floor.
The farmer rents eighty acres, an6
can put by something every year. HI
is a bachelor, and his family consists o.
his mother, brother and uncle. Hires
men get $50 a year. The farmer and
his family had good business habits
but they cannot read o write. Thei
fuel is of the trimmings of trees, oal
saplings, and broom or furze. The,
have no moving or reaping machines
but during harvest hire eleven men
These men have soup, omelet, bread
cheese and salad; meat once a day, porl
or bacon, and wine at all four meals
When it is hot they take off their shirt
and work with their bodies thus stripped
even in the presence of the hiret
women. After the harvest they vii
have a revel, when there will be boilet
ham, rabbits stewed with wine, breat
and salad and wine. The hired hand
work until Sunday noon, then they be
gin to drink and keep it up until Mon
day evening. The well-to-do farmer
have neither tomatoes, cucumbers no
melons. It would require the labor Q
another man.
The women @help," or domestics
spend a good share Of the day watchin
the cattle while they are grassing, 70
there are no fences. She comes HON
to help prepare the meals. She take
her knitting and even her distaf fo
spinning into the field with her, an
she milks the COW or the goat thre
times a day.
One of the IONS keeps a hunting do
p and horse, but no buggy, for in Franc
it would be scandalous to take o gil
out riding.
The farm is planted in the followin
manner: In vines, about ten acres; i
meadow there are twenty; in wheat, five
T in potatoes, five; in oats, two and a hal
Maize or Indian corn is also sown, br
only to be fed green to cattle. 1t is CT
at the height of about two and a ha
feet, when quite tender, and is given
t the animals in their stables. Gras
seeds are neve sown in this district
. but, when q field has been cultivate
, and the harvest gathered, whether
wheat, oats or anything else, then the
do not fatigue the ground, even in til
plain, the second year, but ANNA
Craze under the care of q shepherd
shepherdess and generally of a sheI
herds dog. Pierre values his shepheT
dog at 100 francs; but his mother tel
. me that he is worth about half TIL
, sum; that her SON puts that value o
him because he loves him; he was wort
it once, but now he is getting old. I'll
shepherd dog is only taxed l franc
, e the others s. Meadows in Franz
l and never titled. They endeavor
water them, and if there is no strea
;. they try to find O spring, where the
/ make a deep hole or pond, and thent
t conduct the water by means of lit
bitches or canals. You can see mea'
t ows on the sides of the hills crosse
4 lengthwise by these bitches. Tho
meadows are rarely MANFRED, Il
!, manure being wanted for the vine
which pay better. one-third of IL
manure is put upon the wheat, and tw
thirds on the vines. Generally by IL
:. beginning of June the water ceases
flow through the meadow ditche
d There are usually two cuttings of gra
taken from the meadows, one in Jul
and July, the other in September al
October; but if not well-enough grow
: it can be pastured. Some meadow
= have not been plowed for 300 years, al
some have not been broken up for
. thousand.
e Haunted House at Newburg.
. A story about a haunted house ne
c Newburg, N. Y, has been going L
g rounds of the papers. 1t seems Sar'
r. / ~ Nys TTIls