312 Report on the Agriculture of 



under water. After Szonta Railway Station the country im- 

 proved and became dryer, and after Piglevitza tlie railway passes 

 through a magnificent plain, with crops of short-strawed wheat 

 with good ears. After Zombor we continued to run over a plain 

 of perfectly flat and wonderfully rich black soil, extending as far 

 as the eye could reach on every side — the commencement of the 

 Banat. Often the crops were miserable, and the cultivation 

 only two and three inches deep. After Militics to Bajmok 

 we ascended a slight incline on to a fine undulating country, 

 stretching for miles, a safer district for agricultural enterprise, as 

 there is no danger from floods. The soil still continued to be 

 black, deep, and apparently of first quality, but miserably culti- 

 vated, and bearing foul, wretched crops. Scarcely a tree or 

 house broke the line of the horizon. Vineyards and orchards 

 succeeded as we approached Maria-Theresiopel. At this station 

 a waggon awaited us, and we drove for two hours over a sandy 

 and barren tract without any definite road to Kis-Szalas, a fine 

 estate of 35,000 acres, which is entirely surrounded by a sandy 

 desert, known as the Szabachka, which extends over many miles, 

 and is only good for grazing a few cows and swine. Onwards 

 to Szegedin, Mezohegyes, and Arad, the traveller passes through 

 the very richest district of the Banat. There is a splendid 

 expanse of country extending for miles, and often growing 

 nothing but thistle-forests. Near the villages cultivation im- 

 proves. It was near Arad that the late Count Szeleusky attempted 

 to establish an English farmery, but failed owing to difficulties 

 connected with the climate. 



I passed Szolnok at half-past four in the morning, after travel- 

 ling all night, and looked out upon a tremendous flat expanse 

 without a rise. We had been running through similar country 

 all night, and were now in the district of the Theiss. The land 

 here is strong, and cracks into cubes and prisms under the hot 

 sun. There was a considerable proportion of grazing ground, 

 and the country appeared fresh and green while harvest opera- 

 tions progressed upon the arable land. This land will grow 

 wheat year after year without manure. If manured it must not 

 be for wheat, but for rape or Indian corn, and then wheat stands 

 up well ; but if dressed with dung, it lodges. 



I found tobacco cultivation carried on upon a large scale here, 

 and learnt that sheep do very well upon tobacco in a green state 

 as a forage crop. It is sown in the middle of March in beds : 

 well watered and weeded, and planted out when 4 or 5 inches 

 high, the plants being set as deep as the heart, or to where the 

 leaves branch off from the stem. The field is ploughed in the 

 autumn, and again in the middle of May. It is then well har- 

 rowed, and either rolled or bush-harrowed to smooth the surface. 

 The land is then marked out into 3-feet rows ; and the young plants 



