514 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



inches or more. The land for grain being laid out in stitches, 

 six or seven feet wide, in the intervals a deep trench or ditch is 

 dug, say of a foot in width. The next year, in cultivating this 

 same land, a foot in width will he taken from the side of this 

 stitch and thrown into the ditch or open space, widening, of 

 course, the next bed to the extent to which it is cut off from the 

 other ; iilling up the trench of the preceding year, and forming a 

 new trench. This is repeated year after year, until, according 

 to the width of the stitch or bed, the whole ground is gone over 

 to the depth of a double spading. At the same time, as the suc 

 cessive crops have followed each other, the ground has been 

 carefully improved by manure, until a fine rich and mellow bed 

 of soil is formed. This operation resembles subsoiling, with this 

 difference, that the work is more thoroughly and carefully done 

 with a spade than it can ever be with a plough. A deep soil, 

 where properly enriched, is obviously most favorable to vegeta 

 tion. The air itself is a great enricher of the ground ; water, 

 another great element of fertility, passes through a well-cultivated 

 soil, leaving its fertilizing influences, Avithout becoming stagnant, 

 and so injuring the soil. All plants do not equally require deep 

 ness of soil, yet even the plants which appear most superficial 

 often extend the fine tendrils of their roots in search of food 

 much farther than the eye can follow, or than is generally sup 

 posed. A French farmer states that he has found the roots from 

 a plant of wheat extending five feet. All tap-rooted plants, such 

 as clover or carrots, frequent crops in Flanders, of course demand 

 a deep culture. 



The first object, then, of the Flemish farmer, is to get a deep 

 and friable soil, well enriched, and, as far as possible, equally 

 enriched throughout. This is done with great painstaking, and 

 the whole resembles the most beautiful garden cultivation. Even 

 vvliere it is ploughed, the trenches at the sides of the field, and 

 between the beds, are cleaned out by a spade ; what is taken out 

 LS laid carefully upon the beds; and the whole executed with a 

 neatiiesss and exactness the most particular, and perfectly delight 

 ful to the eye. 



2. SUBSOILING. They have a peculiar mode of working their 

 land in many cases, of which their best farmers think very 

 highly, and which is well deserving of notice. Immediately 



