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Show EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. Ohaptal, in the General Statistics of Fra?ce, rema.r~s, lhttt the fin'e wines called the Hermitage, are produced m a gramttc sand. . One well eq abli shed fact is of more value than a thousand theones. There is a general P' inciple upon wbit:n ali autht>rs wbo have written upon the su hj Pct of the vine, S!ee~ to consi de.r inconte_stable, namely, that, to pro\tuce ~ood wine, the_ sml upon which tl~e .vm~s grow , must be s.unrly. T his concurrence wdl appear more stnkmg m the sequel of this tre :l ti ~ e . An excell ent French work, ent itled '' Cours d' Agriculture," by t.he Abbe Rozie r, under the word olive, describf._ the tree, and ex(Jl::uns the n::1ture of the soil and situation most suitable for its culture. The abo vP work is entitled to great credit on this subject ; it was compiled by a juu ici1 us, well-inform:.:!d man, who resided in tl~~ ~ountr~, and of (;ourse had access to the most respectahle sources ot miormatwn. We have translated and inserted in this work the most essential part of the information necessary to enable the American experimentalist to form correct an alogical deductions. Before ent.ering upon the subject of the culture of the. olive, we have given the Abbe Rozier's description of the great basins of France. We have trauslated this excellent article nearly literally, as it contains not only the locality of the olive, but of the vine: also, and will serve as a true basis upon which accurate comparisons may be made between the climate of France and that of the United States. "By basin is understood that body of land over which a river draws ks waters ; thus the line that separates one river from another ought to be more elevated than the rivers themselves, in order to determine the slope upon which the rivers flow. Thus the chain of mountains that traverses the Vivarais, le Forez, and Bourbonois, and from which !he waters flow on one side, towards the Atlantic ocean, and on the other towards the Meuiterranean sea, affords an example of this incl. The same peculiarity i.s again found in the mountains of Lower Languedoc. We may, then, in general say that France is divided into two great basins ; but the di~criminat.ion offers nothing upon which determinate conclusions can be formed. "The extent of the great basins comprehends often several provinces, and sometimes divides a province into two parts ; because the division of the kingdom into provinces, is traced by the hand of man, whilst those of the basins are designed and fixed by the hand of nag ture.~ * The profound philosophical remark contained in th is contrast, oHght to be kept .in viflW by all men who make the science of geography their study.. No· thi ng is n¥>r eommon or mo1·e absurd, than the usual mode of expression re· en~ :;tin g al\y given territorial division ; that such a country is cold, warm, moist, dry, level , hilly, mountainous, barren, or ffrlil e, is in the mouths of the greatest part of mankind; whilst, in fact, there are but few political divisions of any con· siderable extent t bat do not contain parts deserving, respectively, all thos-e characteJ ·ist ics. Thel·e is an utter impossibility of becoming perfect in geoe;raphical knowledge unless the ~tudent r.ommence5 by studying the natural J ivisions, and underst~ndlng them comprehensively, before attending to artificial lines of demarkat!on. 11het·c e xists no country where this course is more necessary than t\1e Umted States, because th~re .are none where less respect bas been pai~ to the namral divisions. EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. z:asin of the RhonP,, and confluent r-ivers.-" T he rivers in this basm,. flow from the north or east, relative to thei1 , en~-: ral mouths ~nd enter the sea to ~he south. This basin is pe rfe ~l y c u ractP r~ Jzed by ~he gre:1t chams of e l e vat~ d mountains th at ci rem sed be j! o~. all s1Jes, exc~pt towarcls the ~outh of the Rhone. It is cJ eJrly YJs1ble that the nver has successively undermined. destroy ed, and ovc ~turned the chain of. rocks, and opened a passage ; and that the ch am was formerly contmuous from NisrnPs to Aries. " If it was intended to make the tour of this basin, it would be necessary to depart from the most southern and nearest point to the mouth _of the Rhone .; and aJvancing eastward. the proiong;tion of the ch~m of the Alps would be encountered. This chain covers Aix, Marseilles, To~lon , and Grasse. From the former town, mountin almost perpendicularly to the north, would be found Senez DiO'neg .Embrun, Barcelonette, and St. Jean-de-1.\forienhe ; all built' on °th~ ~Ips . I~ would be necessary to traverse the Jake 6f Geneva Ieav- 10~ . the h1gh ~Ips on the right, which form at their base a pa;ticular ~asm, of whtch the lake of Geneva is the reservoir, and discharge. Sou would then behold the Alps, confounded with the a10untains of t. Cloud, known ?Y the name of Mount Jura, rising above Besan- 90n and M_ountbellard. To the north of the bas~n 'of the Rhone the _moun~ams "traverse. Lorraine. From Bedfort, you would tra: verse ~hai.ns_ ot moun tams lower than either the Alps or Mount Jura of which 1t 1s, however, an embranchment. This last chain wind~ ~·the south, towards ~angres, to Dijon, Lyons, Vivarais, Alai!:i, and Ismei, and from N 1smes to the Mediterranern sea. There ou wo~ld fin.d ~ recent allu vion, formed by the waters of the sea, ;nd bwhi~h datly mcrea:es. Such is the first great basin of France, formy t11e Rhone and Its confluent rivers. t " This basin is divided by a chain of secondary mountains into l wo vehry strongly contrasted portions. This secondary ch~in G ower t an the Alps. . "h t Trh e Rhonl e flows from the ea5Jt to the W~". 'st ' and then pursum. cr a ~~g t /~ to t 1e south, forms the above se pa ration in bathing the tho o f hounLt J ur~, that of_ the mountai ns of Bugey' and afterward<: ose 0 t e yonoi~ and V Iv arais . ~ . "Th ere results, from these two g. rand diviiions, two climates of ver t~;en\~em~erature. The ri~ht, or highest division, is aJmost, ever~ 1 of eth ree or four degrees colder th an Lyons. I speak pa.rticulary 1 el plams, because all the lower part of the second basin is co~r~f~te Y shel~e.red from the no rth winds, from Lyons t~ the sea. . . e prevatlmg heat of the fi rst basin does not arise from its ::z~~~Iity to ~he south; ?ut from the mass and extent of the high d ns wtu~h shelter 1t on aiJ sides; and from the same cause Pthrotcee s the difference in its cu1ture and production. All the rivers th a trda verse th e ht' g h er dI' V·I Si·o n o f this bas in, have a slow current. h ey escend upon almost imperceptible slopes from mountains' dlVo wenre heavy ra I· ~s . fa 1) a 1m os.t every d ay. The.u ' overflowm. gs bring' b ' and depos1t m the plams, a fertile mud· a manure that may th~scompared to !hat which the Nile leaves upon its banks. From .manure spnng ~e rich meadows of Franche Compte., Burg.wn• 4• |