THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



521 



In case of small farms to which this manure is to be applied, 

 and where the cultivator has only his own labor of which to 

 avail himself, he adopts a method of 

 distributing this manure, of which the 

 subjoined cut will give an idea ; but 

 which, I can easily suppose, may not 

 be agreeable to persons not accustomed 

 to it. The Flemings, however, reluct 

 at no labor by which their objects may 

 be obtained. 



In some cases it is transported into 

 the field by means of a wheelbarrow, 

 with the cask containing the liquid 

 suspended between the shafts. There 

 are acknowledged inconveniences at 

 tending its application ; but many of 

 them are purely ideal, and the extraordinary value of the manure, 

 when thus applied, is an ample compensation for any extraordi 

 nary labor or expense, which its saving or its distribution may 

 cost. 



8. CLEANNESS OF CULTIVATION. Another feature in the 

 Flemish husbandry is the cleanness of their cultivation. They 

 spare no pains in the eradication of every weed. They have, in 

 this matter, much to contend with. An old country under a 

 highly-manured cultivation is liable always to be much infested 

 with weeds, and especially with the squitch grass, (triticum 

 rep ens i) which is their chief trouble. What cannot be accom 

 plished by the plough, or the harrow, or the hoe, is done by 

 hand ; and occasional recourse is had to a naked fallow. In such 

 case a fallow crop, that is, a cleansing crop, a crop the culti 

 vation of which would effectually destroy the weeds, would be 

 more eligible. The old doctrine, that the land absolutely 

 required rest, with a view to the recruiting of its powers, is now 

 exploded. With ample manuring, and a rotation or change of 

 crops, its occupation may be unremitted. 

 44* 



