Toulon is in a valley at the mouth of the Goutier, a
little river of the size of the Veaune; surrounded by high mountains of
naked rock, leaving some space between them and the sea. This space is
hilly, reddish, gravelly, and of middling quality, in olives, vines,
corn, almonds, figs, and capers. The capers are planted eight feet
apart. A bush yields, one year with another, two pounds, worth twelve
sous the pound. Every plant, then, yields twenty-four sous, equal to
one shilling sterling. An acre, containing six hundred and seventy-six
plants, would yield thirty-three pounds sixteen shillings sterling. The
fruit is gathered by women, who can gather about twelve pounds a day.
They begin to gather about the last of June, and end about the middle of
October. Each plant must be picked every day. These plants grow equally
well in the best or worst soil, or even in the walls, where there is no
soil. They will last the life of a man, or longer. The heat is so great
at Toulon in summer, as to occasion very great cracks in the earth.
Where the caper is in a soil that will admit it, they plough it.
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