CROPS. 479 



nent is a serious necessity. There are no laboring people who 

 live in half the abundance of the laboring people of the United 

 States. 



I should extend my remarks much too far if I treated of many 

 of the other smaller crops of the Continent, which indeed present 

 nothing remarkable ; and in treating of Flemish husbandry, I 

 shall have occasion to speak of several valuable plants which are 

 cultivated in common by the two countries. 



8. BUCKWHEAT. Buckwheat is grown very largely in poor 

 soils in some parts of Prance, but it seems to be a mere shift to 

 live ; and leaves only the regret, that land capable of a much 

 better cultivation should be thus appropriated. 



9. MILLET. Millet is cultivated to some extent in parts of 

 France, but almost exclusively for forage, and, in this respect, 

 deserves much more attention than it usually receives. I wish 

 my countrymen were more impressed with the extraordinary 

 value of this plant. I know few plants which make a more 

 abundant return, or which, when it is well cured, give a more 

 nutritious forage, or one more relished by stock. On the inter 

 vale lands of the River Loire, where the crops are occasionally 

 destroyed by an inundation, a crop of millet is obtained after the 

 floods have passed off. The crop, under such circumstances, 

 cannot be expected to be large, but it is obtained where no other 

 would be. 



10. CLOVER. The common large red clover, known in 

 France as the Spanish clover, is cultivated to a considerable 

 extent in parts of France. It has been a long time cultivated in 

 the Netherlands or Low Countries, but was not an established 

 culture in France until about three quarters of a century ago. 

 It is now considered as the foundation of good husbandry. Its 

 foliage is abundant, and its large roots essentially enrich the land. 

 It is sown in the spring, and its seed must not be buried deeply. 

 The mode strongly recommended is to sow it on the wheat in 

 the spring, immediately after the wheat is harrowed; and then 

 to roll the wheat with a light roller. 



It comes in, in a regular course of rotation, but it is not 

 allowed to occupy the land more than one or two years ; and it 



