ARTHUR YOUNG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 June 1939, Page 6

ARTHUR YOUNG

MEMORY HONOURED IN FRANCE. The memory of Arthur Young, whose book, “Travels in France during the years 1787, 1788‘and 1879” is a classic in both countries, will be honoured during the celebrations in the Vivarais in July commemorating the birth of Olivier de Serres four hundred years ago. It was Olivier de Serres, an early writer on agriculture, who introduced the cultivation of the silk worn into France, which gave rise to the silk industry, one of the most prosperous in that country. Arthur Young was a great admirer of Olivier de Serres and made a special point on his first journey to France of visiting the mulbery tree plantation of Olivier de Serres. It is this visit that will be celebrated, by the unveil-, ing of a commemorative tablet and by the naming of the road from Brioude to Viviers the “Route Arthur Young.” The English gentleman farmer wrote of this visit: “I regarded the residence of the great, parent of French agriculture, and who was undoubtedly one of the first writers on the subject that had appeared in the world, with that sort of veneration which those only can feel who have addicted themselves strongly to some predominant pursuit. Two hundred years after his exertions, let me do honour to his memory, he was an excellent farmer and a true patriot, and would not have been fixed on by Henry IV as his chief agent in the great project of introducing the culture of silk in France, if he had not possessed a considerable reputation; a reputation well earned, since posterity has confirmed it. There is a great oak wood near the chateau, and many vines, with plenty of mulberries, some apparently old enough to have been planted by Ihe hand of the venerable genius that has rendered the ground classic. When the present Bishop of Sisterton was shown, like me, the farm of de Serres. he remarked that the nation ought to erect a monument to his memory.” The visit of Arthur Young, the Englishman who had come so fax - to see this ancient plantation, travelling, as he says, not by hasty coaph but on his trusted blind mare, must have caused a stir in the remote days of 1787 and passing years wove a local legend round the event, for one is solemnly told that when he reached the spot he went down on his knees, an action hardly compatible with the very calm character of Arthur Young.

A large gathering of French agriculturists will be present at the unveiling of the tablet to the memory of the English gentleman farmer, and invitations will be sent by the organisers to English farmers to attend the ceremony. Meanwhile the organising committee, the Comite National Olivier de Serres. Maison des Chambres d’Agriculture. 11-bis, rue Scribe. Paris. IX. will bo happy to supply full information regarding the ceremonies projected.