THE CHANNEL ISLANDS AND THEIR AGRICULTURE.

BY HENRY H. GOODELL, LL.D., AMHERST.

The subject assigned me to-night is the Channel Islands and their agriculture. There is no more interesting spot on the face of the globe, and none that displays sharper contrasts. Geographically belonging to France, territorially they form an outlying dependency of the British crown. Apparently most barren and unfertile of soil, they yield crops rivalling in richness those of the virgin plains of our own great West. Rent and torn by the waves that rush in upon them from the Atlantic, lashed by the refluent surge from the coast of France, and swept by the boiling tides that under favoring circumstances rise to a height of over forty feet, they find in the floating sea wrack of the very waves which threaten their existence the chief element of their fertility. Lying at the very entrance of the English Channel, just where it broadens out and loses itself in the immensity of the ocean, and exposed to every wind that blows, they yet enjoy a climate so equable and mild that the flowers of the tropics bloom there the year round in the open air.

No less remarkable in their characteristics are the people. Calling themselves Englishmen, they yet speak a patois of French impossible to be understood by any one not native born, and compel its use in school and court. Blindly adherent to ancient law and custom, they have made themselves known the world over for the advanced position they have taken on all matters pertaining to agriculture. Jealously resisting every encroachment upon their liberties, and so independent that all laws affecting them have first to be passed upon and approved by their own States before becoming valid, they yet are the most loyal of subjects and tenacious in their support of the crown. The last of the great

French possessions united to England when William the Conqueror crossed the Channel and overthrew the Saxon dynasty, they have remained through all these years unshaken in their fidelity to the representatives of their hereditary sovereigns. Race, language, contiguity of territory, would seem to have allied them to Norman France; yet so slight was the bond that held them, that shortly after the separation we find this added petition in their litany: "From the fury of the Norman, good Lord deliver us." Undoubtedly in bygone ages, before subsidence had taken place, these islands formed a part of the continent, and were actually joined to France; but now they stand like sentinels, lone outposts, surrounded by rushing tides and raging seas, which in their ceaseless action have eaten out and swept away the softer and more friable rocks, leaving only a "fretwork of those harder barriers that still resist attack, and are enabled to present a bold and serried front against their relentless enemy."

The Channel Islands are six in number, namely, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Jethou and Herm, and lie one hundred miles south of England and fifteen from the shores of France, being well within a line drawn parallel to the coast, from the end of the peninsula on which Cherbourg is built. The two largest of these ― Jersey and Guernsey are the ones with which we shall concern ourselves to-night. Small in area, mere dots on the surface of the globe, they yet have won for themselves a name and place in the agriculture of every civilized nation of the world. The first, some eleven miles in length by five and a half in breadth, covers an area of 28,717 acres; the second, nine and a half miles in length by six and a half in breadth, contains about 19,705 acres. Of these areas scarce two-thirds is land that can be cultivated, for we must bear in mind that the formation is mostly granite, rising in cliffs from two hundred to four hundred feet, with deep indentations and wide encircling bays where the sea has eaten into the shore. From the elevated crest to the water's edge is a "wide margin of descent, upon which fertile soil cannot accumulate, and a poor and scanty pasturage, its only possible produce, is generally more or less overpowered by brake, gorse and heath."

As you approach the Jersey coast nothing more picturesque can be well imagined. Ten miles of granite cliff stretching along its northern exposure two hundred and forty to four hundred and eighty-five feet in height, while on the south eight miles of similar formation rise from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet, and against this the waters madly foam and break and dash their spray far up the sides, rending and rifting them in every possible manner, or wearing out dark chasms and overhanging arches. There results from this formation a general slope and exposure to the south very favorable to vegetation. Furthermore, the whole island is intersected from north to south by a succession of ravines or valleys, gradually widening and increasing in depth, and forming a natural channel for the small streams taking their origin in the springs which everywhere abound. It has been said that the three primary elements necessary to the success of agricultural operations are skilful husbandry, a well-constituted soil and a genial climate. All three of these requisites Jersey possesses in the highest degree. Though resting on a bed of primary rocks of granite, syenite and schist absolutely wanting in organic remains, yet the soil is a rich loam, varying in lightness with the character of the underlying stratum. Even in the bays, where the sand driven by the winds has encroached upon the soil, the land is so successfully tilled, that St. Clements Bay has won for itself the title of the "Garden of Jersey." The climate is one of the most equable and mild in the world. Rarely does it fall below the freezing point, and there is but one instance on record of its reaching 83°. The ground seldom freezes more than an inch or two, and the slight snows serve to keep off the frost altogether. Winter there is none, but the spring is usually cool and late. The mean daily range of the thermometer is exceptionally small. Taking the average of ten years, it is found to be but 8.10. The days of summer are not very hot, but the nights are comparatively warm, and there is hardly any chill in the night air at any season of the year. There is no recorded climate, and probably no climate whatever in north temperate latitudes, on either side of the Atlantic, that presents so small a daily range of the thermometer. Such is the opinion of an enthusiastic traveller.

Mean Daily Range of Each Month from an Average of Ten Years.

10

9°

8

プト

6

70

Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Mean Temperature of Six Years at Jersey during Each Month of the Year.

65

60

35

50

45

40°

35

Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

As a result of this, many kinds of plants and flowering plants and shrubs are at least a fortnight earlier than even in the warmer parts of England, and the ripening of fruit in the open air during July, August and September is invariably some days earlier than at Greenwich, although the summer is cooler than at that place. Another striking pecu

liarity which doubtless has its effect upon vegetation is the rainfall. Taking the average of six years, rain is found to fall on one hundred and fifty days, but it most frequently occurs at night or early in the morning, seldom lasting through the day, thereby securing the maximum of sunshine. The mean annual rainfall is about thirty-three inches. Under these favorable conditions of temperature and moisture a flora that is almost tropical prevails. Fuchsias reaching the proportions of shrubs, rhododendrons twenty to twenty-five feet in height, araucarias, or monkey trees, as they are popularly designated, oleanders, yuccas, palms, azaleas and camellias flourish in the open air, while climate and soil appear to be particularly suitable for the cultivation of the dahlia. Finer specimens I have never seen. The laurestinus was in bloom in November, and fig trees and oranges were everywhere to be seen trained against the south walls of enclosures. It is a climatic law that in all places where the mean temperature is below 62.6°, the revival of nature in spring takes place in that month of which the mean temperature reaches 42.8°. On the island of Jersey this occurs in February. This again is a very important factor in the agricultural development of the place, for the early spring and the proximity of the great markets of London and Paris enable the inhabitants to dispose of their produce at a great profit. It is no uncommon thing for a man to pay for a piece of potato land as high a rental as two to three hundred dollars an acre, and sell his crop of four or five hundred bushels for $1,000 or $1,100. the end, for immediately after the gathering of the first crop the land is freshly manured and a second crop is planted, yielding from two-thirds to three-fourths the amount of the first. These results can only be secured by the application of large quantities of manure. Barn-yard manure and also artificial fertilizers are used; but the main dependence is placed upon the vraic or sea-weed. The old legend runs: "No vraic, no corn; no corn, no cows; no cows, no bread for children's mouths." This is either washed ashore by the action of the waves, or, at the period of maturity, is separated by bill hooks or sickles fastened on to long poles and drawn in by rakes with a head two or three feet wide

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