Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1894 — Farming in France. [ARTICLE]

Farming in France.

The report of the Secretary of the English Legation in Paris has just been submitted to parliament. It appears from the report that no less than 14,000,000 of the inhabitants of France, i. e., three-quarters of the agricultural population, are occupied in small farming. There are 4,802,697 farms of twenty acres or under, which cover an area of 24,900,214 acres, or one-fourth of the total of the land capable of cultivation. Butter, eggs, chickens, grain, vegetables, fruit, milk, cheese, and in a certain degree cattle, sheep and pigs are the products they rely upon. Sheep, and, if we except a few calves, cattle, otherwise than for the dairy, are clearly not suited for production on such small farms. Grain may also be at an economic disadvantage, but everything else here enumerated would be suitable for small holders.in England. Producers in France suffer, as do those of England, from middlemen and heavy transit charges, for articles of commerce which are only worth from eight to ten cents each in Finistere are sold in Paris the following day for 50 cents; the difference is swallowed up by the railways, the brokers and the retail merchants. The transport system from Finistere to London via St. Malo, is also unsatisfactory, both as regards cost and speed, and attention is being directed towards establishing a direct trade with Manchester. In Normandy, however, producers are better treated, as they realize three-fourths of the price paid by consumers. In some parts of Brittany they do well, but in others they only get one-fourth. The system of association for the mutual protection of agricultural interests is making great strides.