246 On the Agriculture of the Netherlands^. 



rape-cake, and 20 bushels of wood-ashes, on six acres of land, 

 and only one crop of buckwheat taken before the same quantity 

 is laid on again. This land is of the best quality, situated near 

 A lost, where very good hops are grown. 



In England, after manuring with 20 tons of dung for a crop of 

 potatoes, it would not be thought requisite to manure the land 

 again for wheat, and this is probably one of the reasons why 

 wheat thrives better after potatoes in the Netherlands than it does 

 in England or Scotland. 



On a farm near Courtray, consisting of a little more than 100 

 imperial acres, a rotation was strictly adhered to which appears 

 to be very profitable. The farm is all arable, and divided into 

 six portions: — 1 is half in flax and half in colza; 2. wheat; 3. 

 rye and turnips ; 4. oats (five-sixths of which with clover-seed, 

 one-sixth left for potatoes and carrots) ; 5. clover and roots ; 6. 

 two-thirds wheat, and one-third beans. This rotation could not 

 be continued long if the manure were not very abundant. Flax 

 and colza recur only once in twelve years, wheat nearly every 

 third year, rye and turnips and oats once in six years, clover once 

 in six years ; potatoes and carrots only in very small quantities, 

 the soil being a stiffish loam. Experience proved to the farmer 

 that every deviation of any consequence from this course diminished 

 his profit. The land was abundantly manured, and all the crops 

 were in the greatest perfection when we visited it. This shows 

 that, where manure can be had in abundance, the rule, which 

 otherwise is advantageous, of not taking two white grain crops in 

 succession, may be deviated from without much danger of ex- 

 hausting the land, especially in rich loams. Wheat may always, 

 in this case, be sown every third year ; but clover, flax, and colza 

 require longer intervals. The principal manure consists of the 

 emptyings of privies and other rich substances from the neigh- 

 bouring town, which, with the sweepings of the streets and the 

 ashes, make a very considerable addition to the manure made on 

 the farm. It will rather surprise the English farmer to be in- 

 formed that on such a farm 30 milch cows and heifers were con- 

 stantly kept, and that two paddocks of a few acres each, for the 

 cows to take exercise in about two hours each day, were the only 

 part of the farm not under the plough. The cows have oil-cake, 

 beans, clover, and roots, with cut straw. The clover is nearly all 

 consumed in a green state. The urine-tank is most capacious, 

 being 20 feet wide, 7 feet deep, and 50 feet long, divided by 

 partitions. The cow-house is washed out twice a-day, there being 

 usually a pump in the middle of it with a stone cistern under it, 

 in which bean-meal is constantly kept mixed with the water 

 which the cows drink. This greatly increases the milk. 



