558 
stock and the diminution of the live grain area. There has been a decrease since 1850 
in the breadth of wheat, oats, peas, and beans, and an increase in barley, roots, clover, 
and permanent pasture ; the reduction in ‘ white crops,” which now average 7,500,000 
acres, exceeds 1,250,000 acres; wheat now occupying a little more than 3,000,000, or 
about one-sixth of our wheat area, although the product sometimes exceeds one-third 
of ours. The decrease has been about 10 per cent. in 29 years, not in product, but in 
acreage, the yield having increased 14 bushels, and 5 bushels in one hundred years, 
being now 28 bushels, the largest national average. The supremacy of turnips has 
therefore not weakened in the least, and the importance of sheep, which suffered some 
decline during the area of low prices for wool in 1867, is now steadily advancing. 
There are now about 28,000,000 sheep to 30,000,000 acres of productive area. It was 
recently assumed, on good grounds, that one-fourth of the cattle were annually sold, 
at the rate of £16 each in England, £14 in Scotland, and £10 in Ireland; that one- 
third of the English sheep and one-fourth of the Scottish are annually sold at about 
35 shillings each. The tendency has since been to still higher prices. Not only is the 
proportion of stock large, both to area-and population, but the extra size of animals 
and extra feeding contribute both quantity and quality to home resources of fertiliza- 
tion, and afford a valid reason for enlarged production. 
Holland.—HoHand, not including the Zuyder Zee, bas an area of 3,287,486 hectares, 
or 8,123,696 acres; with it, 3,818,529 hectares. It has a population of 3,500,000, con- 
stantly becoming denser, having increased 8 per cent. in ten years. Of this number 
218,115 men and 35,730 women are actively employed in agriculture. Nearly four- 
tenths of this area is occupied in pasturage and fodder production, showing the pro- 
minence of meat, butter, and cheese in the farm economy of the country. The tilled 
area is about 25 per cent of the total. The cereal production last reported was about 
9,000,000 bushels of oats, nearly as much of rye, and 4,500,000 bushels of wheat. The 
cattle are the best meat-producers of continental Europe, and in the flocks runs the best 
blood of English mutton breeds. In all the operations of the dairy, and of the farm as 
well, the extreme of neatness is the rule. The soil itself, originally a waste of sand, 
has been reclaimed by patient labor, a part of it literally fromthe domain of Neptune, 
and kept in generous productiveness by a liberal application of fertilizers; and now it 
is proposed to drain the Zuyder Zee, an area of 1,250,000 acres, and transform its bed 
into fruitful fields, at an expense almost equal to the cost of construction of our com- 
pleted Pacific railroad line. 
Beigium.—The area of this country is equivalent to 7,278,640 acres, of which 6,522,400 
are productive, less than 10 per cent. being uncultivated. The population averages 
448 to the square mile. The latest principles and processes of culture have been 
adopted, and agricultural implements and machinery are extensively employed, by 
co-operation and hire, when too expensive for individual ownership ; and the prevalent 
economy of resources of fertilization is suggestive of Chinese practice, being seen not 
only in the protection from rain and sunshine of animal manures, but in sweeping up 
the droppings upon the highways, the collection and pulverizing of the bones of dead 
animals, and gathering of mud from rivers and canals, and the sewage of towns, while 
all these and other resources are supplemented by the importation of fertilizers ; and 
thus is this diminutive kingdom, little larger than the State of Massachusetts, 
made to yield, of cereal grains, not less than 66,000,000 bushels, of which nearly 
15,000,000 are wheat, 18,000,000 rye, and 24,000,000 oats. While more than one-tenth 
of the producing surface is allotted to wheat, (700,660 acres,) and fully as much more 
to rye, the crop next in extent is hay, followed respectively by oats, green fodder, 
potatoes, and pasturage. I deduce from official statements that 540,025 acres of hay 
yielded an average of 1.82 tons per acre, and 432,931 acres in green fodder produced 8.8 
tons per acre, and an aggregate of nearly 4,000,000 tons. The breadth of sugar-beets 
reported is equal to 45,644 acres, and the yield 13} tons per acre, which is the same 
rate of production estimated for 70,641 acres of roots for fodder. There are also smaller 
breadths of spelt, barley, buckwheat, beans, peas, and vetches, and such commercial 
crops as flax, hemp, colza, hops, tobacco, chiccory, and teasels. In the region known 
as the Polders, the reclaimed lands protected by dikes, a yield of 32 bushels of wheat 
per acre is obtained, and yet there is never produced in Belgium a quantity sufficient 
to meet the wants of its population. 
Switzerland.— The Alpine Republic is about the size of New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts together, containing 16,000 square miles, with but 15 per cent. susceptible of 
cultivation. The Alpine region includes 57 per cent., and has an average altitude of 
8,325 feet. Forests occupy 19 per cent. of the total area. Large farms are only seen in 
the cantons of Berne and Luzerne, and the arable lands are mostly found between the 
Jura and the Alps. The grain produced fails to furnish the bread supply, though it 
should be remembered that 50,000 strangers reside here a portion of the year, and 
somewhat augment the demand. The wine product is 30,000,000 gallons, and that is 
insufficient to moisten the home consumption of bread. Cheese is exported, but the . 
imports of butter are greater than the exports. The stock of cattle is little short of 
one million, very hardy, thrifty, some families considerably improved, and many ani- 
