January 19th, 1873. Cloudy; rain falling from evening and a strong wind. At nine o'clock this morning we travelled by train to visit the château of Fontainebleau. Along the way the landscape was entirely flat, and villagers were going about their tasks, tilling and sowing the fields. This area is said to have the richest soil in the whole of France, and the farming we have seen in the fields around Paris seems more intensive than in Britain. There were fields of wheat and plots with rows of vegetables being grown in ridges. The trees between the fields had had their branches cut for firewood and tall shoots were sprouting from their stumps. Willow-trees growing along the river-banks provide charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder. In the fields the ploughs are drawn by oxen, and the vegetables are covered with glass domes to protect them from the wind and trap the heat without blocking out the sunlight. The glass itself is made from sundry odds and ends and is tinged a faint green. Soil enriched with manure is used for fertiliser, and we did not see any liquid manure used.

The royal palace of Fontainebleau is an old building, originally built by François I on the plans of a master-craftsman, since when it has been enlarged and embellished by generations of French monarchs. Napoleon I was extremely fond of this château and often stayed here, and it was to Fontainebleau that he came to surrender his imperial title and take leave of his officers and men following his defeat at Waterloo.