The outermost ring of France consists of young Alpine ranges. These are represented by three units, the Pyrenees on the south, and the Alps and Jura on the east. The high mountain meadows of the lofty Pyrenees are used for cattle in summer. On their northern flank and passing over into the Aquitaine Basin, a succession of tremendous alluvial fans forms a foreland which can be regarded as part of the Garonne Basin.
The Alps to the cast of the Rhone show a young rugged topography, while the high parts are covered with glaciers. Here, as elsewhere, several subdivisions stand out. The Massif of the Maures along the coast of the Riviera, belongs geologically with the Pyrenees. The Alpine chains themselves can be divided, as in Switzerland, into the High Alps and the Pre-Alps separated by the longitudinal upper valleys of the Isère and the Durance. Finally, the Jura is an Alpine offshoot, the regular limestone folds of which mark the boundary between France and Switzerland.
Subtropical agriculture is typical of the Riviera, the Mediterranean coast of this Alpine section. Fields of early vegetables, winter flowers for perfumes, and groves of oranges, lemons, and figs reflect the mild winter and warm summers. Olives and grapes invade the mountain valleys. The dry summers, however, are not favorable for cattle, and goats are the most common domestic animals. On the higher slopes the forest prevails. Farther north the use of the land changes.
The broad valleys, well protected climatically, are used for grain, especially wheat, while fruit trees grow on the lower slopes. Higher up cattle-raising is the main source of income, a result of lower temperature and more abundant summer rains. In Savoie, the French province south of Lake Geneva, dairying is carried on as intensively as in similar parts of Switzerland. The Jura is also important as a dairy region, but here forests cover a great deal of the ranges and limit the meadows to the valleys and the high summits.
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