the Aastro-Hangarian Empire. 317 



of her wet lands. It would involve the deepening and improving 

 of existing watercourses, the formation of canals, the erection of 

 steam-pumps, and other expensive appliances, for which the 

 country is not yet prepared. The subject does not seem to have 

 received much attention as yet ; and I was struck with the absence 

 of all models and plans illustrating drainage works when passing 

 through the very excellent museums of the principal Hungarian 

 agricultural colleges. 



There is another reason for draining land in Hungary. Im- 

 mense tracts are rendered worthless by the efflorescence of soda- 

 salts upon the surface. In other localities spots of land so 

 affected are very frequent, and these spots always lie upon a 

 lower level than the neighbouring good land. There is little 

 doubt that the soda is held in solution in the water which underlies 

 the part affected, and that, as it rises by capillarity under the 

 influence of surface-evaporation, the soda is left upon the surface. 

 How far lowering the water-table by an effective system of 

 drainage would free the soil from this injurious substance would 

 be a most important and interesting subject for investigation. 

 For my part, I believe that the lowering of the water-table 

 would be followed by the disappearance of the soda efflorescence. 

 It is a matter of common observation in Hungary that of late 

 years the Flatten See, Neusiedler See, and other less important 

 lakes and swamps, have been drying up. This I was often 

 assured of, although the year 1873, in which my journey was 

 made, was exceedingly wet. 



Wearing Action of Water. — In the hill districts forming the 

 flanks of the Carpathians, the agriculturist meets with a serious 

 difficulty in the action of water upon the soft sandy clay com- 

 posing the soil. The evil commences with a slight wearing of 

 the surface after storms of rain. A watercourse is thus begun, 

 and in a few years a gorge of considerable dimensions is 

 formed, interrupting agricultural operations. I have driven 

 through such a watercourse, near Bosing, where the road itself 

 was interrupted. In this case the chasm was 20 to 24 feet deep. 

 When the evil is first noticed, the surface must be immediately 

 levelled and a few stakes driven into the ground to neutralise the 

 action of the water. 



Field-Mice. — Throughout Germany, Austria, and Hungary, 

 the agriculturist is plagued by the depredations of field-mice. 

 These creatures multiply with great rapidity, and in dry seasons 

 literally swarm over the country, destroying the crops over vast 

 areas of land. No one seems able to suggest a cure, for the 

 mice are about as difficult to reduce to reasonable limits as any 

 of those insect plagues which from time to time attack our corn- 

 fields. I first noticed the depredations of mice at Talos, on 



