and routes between the Mediterranean and North
Seas in very early times gave the country a commercial prominence that
ever since has been retained. Even before the time of Caesar it was a
famous trading-ground for Mediterranean merchants, and the conquest of
the country was not so much for the spoils of war as for the extension
of Roman commercial influence.

The greater part of France is an agricultural region, and nowhere is the
soil cultivated with greater skill. Although the state is not quite as
large as Texas, there are more farms than in all the United States,
their small size making thorough cultivation a necessity. Much of the
land is too valuable for wheat-farming, and so the eastern
manufacturing districts depend upon the Russian wheat-farms for their
supply. Northwestern France, however, has a surplus of wheat, and this
is sold to Great Britain.

[Illustration: FRANCE]

The sugar-beet is the most profitable crop, and its cultivation is aided
indirectly by the government, which gives a bounty on all exported
sugar. The area of sugar-beet cultivation will probably increase to its
limit for this reason.

The French farmer is an artist in the cultivation of small fruits, and
the latter form an important source of revenue. Of the fruit-crop, the
grape is by far the most important commercially. French wines,
especially the champagnes, are exported to a greater extent than the
wines of any other country.[72] Most of the wine is sold in Great
Britain and the countries north of the grape belt; a considerable part
is sold in the United States and the eastern countries. Champagne,
Bordeaux, the Loire, and the Rhone Valleys are famous wine districts.
Wine is also imported, to be refined or to be made into brandy.

Cattle-breeding, both for meat and for dairy purposes, is extensively
carried on. The meat is consumed at home. Butter is an important export,
especially in the northwest, where a large amount is made for London
consumers. This region produces Camembert and Neufchatel cheese, both of
which are largely exported; Brie cheese is made chiefly along the German
border. The Roquefort product, made of ewe's milk, is fermented in
limestone caves and cellars. All these varieties have a large sale, the
United States and Great Britain being heavy purchasers.

The Percheron draught-horse is raised for export as well as for home
use; mules are extensively raised for the army wagon-trains of Great
Britain and Germany.