left to labourers. The rent of good land is about fifty shillings an
acre, and wages, in harvest time, four francs with board. The farms,
while large in comparison with anything found in Brittany and Anjou, are
small, measured by our scale, being from fifty to two or three hundred
acres.

Steam-threshing has long been in use here; but, of course, not
generally, as the smaller patches of corn only admit of the old system;
and the corn is so ripe that it is often threshed on the field
immediately after the cutting; the harvesting process is rapid; we often
see only one or two labourers, whether men or women, on a single patch.
But there is no waiting, as a rule, for fine weather to cart away the
corn, and masters and men work with a will. We must, indeed, watch a
harvest from beginning to end to realise the laboriousness of a farmer's
life here. Upon one occasion, when visiting a farm of a hundred and
thirty acres, we found the farmer and his mother, rich people, both hard
at work in the field, the former casting away straw--the corn being
threshed by machinery on the field--the latter tying it up.

The look of cheerfulness animating all faces was delightful to behold.
The farmer's countenance beamed with satisfaction, and, one may be sure,
not without good cause. The farmhouse and buildings are spacious and
handsome, and, as is generally the case here, were surrounded by a high
wall, having a large court in the centre, where a goodly number of
geese, turkeys, and poultry were disporting themselves. There we found
only a few cows, but they were evidently very productive from the
quantity of cheeses found in the dairy.[Footnote: The curious in
agriculture never need fear to ask a question or two of these
flourishing farmers and farmeresses of Seine et Marne. Busy as they are,
they are never too busy to be courteous, and are always ready to show