Ji? On the Agnculture of the Netherlands', Au^> 



country. When they do not choofe to let the clover grow up 

 for feed, it is cut at leafl. three times in a year. After the laft 

 cut, the plant is ploughed under, and makes a good manure ; 

 and, with a little dung added to it, wheat or rye are profitably 

 fown on the ground. 



Turnips and carrots are fown indifferently with any fort of 

 corn ; infomuch that in autumn, after the corn is reaped, the 

 fields appear covered with them ; and it is obfervtd, that thofe 

 which grow in this manner, are better than thofe planted in 

 gardens, and are an excellent and healthy food for both men and 

 cattle. 



Potatoes are here likewife of great ufe for both. Their cul- 

 ture ferves to amend ground n^wly broken up, by dividing and 

 lightening its too compafl parts, and rendering it thereby pro- 

 per for fowing rye on, the following year. 



Colefeed [col-za) and rape require a llrong foil, and rather dry. 

 Flax exhaufts the ground, and is detrimental to the culture of 

 corn on it. Tobacco produces a ftlll worfe effect of the fame 

 kind. 



It has bee» found of great ufe in this part of the country, to 

 divide the land into fmali iields, enClofed with ditches and quick- 

 fet hedges, which flielter the vegetation from the dry winds and 

 frofts of the fpring; nor are ^they lefs ufeful in long droughts, 

 for the fame reafon. The ditches are receptacles for the water 

 which runs off in rainy feafons, and contribute alfo to the growth 

 of the hedges, which are cut for fag^jots every five or fix years. 

 Oak, beech, birch, poplar, hazel, 3cc. are planted for thefe 

 hedges, the growth of which is kept down by frequent cutting. 



Walloon Brabanfy and Northern parts of Hainault, 



The foil I fhall fpeak of under this head, is in general a cold 

 compa6l clay, almoft impenetrable to rain, and in droughts hard 

 and full of cracks. In ploughing, the furrows are made from 

 ei^ht to twelve feet in difi:ance. Lime and marl are found to be 

 the bed manures for this ground, which is manured one year in 

 three. Long experience has lliown, that the earth, after plough- 

 ing, muft not be too Vnuch broken -, for if it be, the rain forms 

 it into an even compa6t mafs, which afterwards dries and hard- 

 ens, fp as to become like one of the barn floors of the country ; 

 whereas, when the earth is left in clods, thefe crumble away 

 Infenfibly during winter and fpring, and thereby cover gradually 

 the roots and young ftalks of the corn. 



Culture of Wheat. — The ground whereon wheat is to be fown, 

 is completely dunged, and ploughed five times ; the firft time 

 in November, the fecond in March or April, the third at Mid- 

 fvunmer, at which time the dung is fpread on it, the fourth in 



Augufl 



