On the Agriculture of the Netherlands 



253 



replace them at any time in autumn or spring. The intervals between 

 the rows are hoed and weeded, and even sometimes dug with the spade, 

 which is a good practice ; and the plants are treated as cabbages are in 

 a garden. In November, before the frost sets in, the intervals between 

 the stitches are dug out, and the earth placed in small heaps between 

 the plants, both to receive the mellowing influence of the frost, and to 

 protect them against very cold winds, which, when there is no snow, 

 sometimes injure the young colza. In spring these heaps are levelled, 

 and the earth is raised around the stems. They cannot fail to grow and 

 shoot out strong seed-stems and succulent leaves. These leaves are 

 much rehshed by cattle, and this sometimes induces the small farmer to 

 gather a portion of them for his cows, at a time when fodder is scarce ; 

 but he pays dear for this supply, by the diminution of the seed, which is 

 abundant in proportion to the luxuriance of the leaves on the stem at 

 the time of flowering. 



" When the colza is cut, it is thrashed, as described before, unless the 

 weather be very unfavourable ; in that case it is dried, as well as circum- 

 stances permit, without much handling : it is then laid in layers with 

 dry straw, and stacked in the field, or carried to the barn. This plan is, 

 however, seldom resorted to in Flanders: the season in general per- 

 mitting its being housed in a dry state, if not thrashed in the field. 



" To save time and trouble the plants of colza are sometimes put in 

 with the plough, being set in the furrows, as we have described in plant- 

 ing potatoes; with this diff'erence, that the plants are set upright, or 

 rather slanting a little against the furrow- slice last turned up, and the 

 return of the plough covers the roots, leaving the crown above ground. 

 A man goes along the furrow, and with his foot presses against each 

 plant to settle the earth around it. This method is not so much prac- 

 tised in Flanders as it is in other parts of Belgium, where the extent of 



