eeping
plant. It is killed to the roots every winter. In the spring it puts out
branches, which creep to the distance of three feet from the centre. The
fruit forms on the stem, as that extends itself, and must be gathered
every day, as it forms. This is the work of women. The pistache grows in
this neighborhood also, but not very good. They eat them in their milky
state. Monsieur de Bergasse has a wine-cellar two hundred and forty
_pieds_ long, in which are one hundred and twenty tons, of from fifty to
one hundred _pieces_ each. These tons are twelve _pieds_ diameter, the
staves four inches thick, the heading two and a half _pouces_ thick. The
temperature of his cellar is of 9 1/2 deg. of Reaumur. The best method of
packing wine, when bottled, is to lay the bottles on their side, and
cover them with sand. The 2d of April, the young figs are formed; the
4th we have Windsor beans. They have had asparagus ever since the middle
of March. The 5th, I see strawberries and the Guelder rose in blossom.
To preserve the raisin, it is first dipped into ley, and then dried in
the sun. The aloe grows in the open ground. I measure a mule, not
the largest, five feet and two inches high. Marseilles is in an
amphitheatre, at the mouth of the Veaune, surrounded by high mountains
of naked rock, distant two or three leagues. The country within that
amphitheatre is a mixture of small hills, vallies, and plains. The
latter are naturally rich. The hills and vallies are forced into
production. Looking from the _Chateau de Notre Dame de la Garde_, it
would seem as if there was a _bastide_ for every arpent. The plain-lands
sell for one hundred louis the _carterelle_, which is less than an acre.
The ground of the arsenal in Marseilles sold for from fifteen to forty
louis the square verge, being nearly the square yard English. In the
fields open to the sea, they are obliged to plant rows of canes, every
here and there, to break the force of the wind. Saw at the Chateau
Borelli pumps worked by the wind.

April 6. From _Marseilles_ to _Aubagne_. A valley on the Veaune,
bordered on each side by high mountains of massive rock, on which
are only some small pines. The interjacent valley is of small hills,
vallies, and plains, reddish, gravelly, and originally poor, but
fertilized by art, and covered with corn, vines, olives, figs, almonds,
mulberries, lucerne, and clover. The river is twelve or fifteen feet
wide, one or two feet deep, and rapid.

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