558 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



by the most simple means, and at the vast results of combined 

 and persevering labor. 



A great amount of land is cultivated by the spade in Belgium, 

 Holland, France, and Germany. Indeed, vast extents of land, 

 especially in the vine-growing districts, on the steep acclivities 

 and on the summits of high hills which are cultivated, are 

 entirely inaccessible to horses or cattle. The ground is tilled by 

 the spade ; the manure is carried up, and the produce is brought 

 down on the backs of men or women. It is stated in a statisti 

 cal work, now in the course of publication in France, that not 

 less than forty millions of acres in that country are cultivated by 

 the spade. This strikes me as an over-statement ; yet the 

 amount is, doubtless, very considerable. In Flanders the culti 

 vation is mixed, with the spade and the plough ; the land for 

 grain crops is wrought with the plough and laid in beds or 

 stitches, and the intervals are dug out with the spade, and the 

 seed sown on the beds is covered with the dirt thrown out of 

 these intervals. This is all done with the greatest care, and this 

 is the occasion of the extreme neatness and exactness which 

 appear in their cultivation. 



In the case of very small farms of a few acres, all the work is 

 executed by the spade or the hoe. It may interest my readers 

 to see the calculation made by the late Rev. Mr. Rham, a gentle 

 man highly esteemed for his agricultural knowledge, and his 

 zeal in agricultural improvements, as to the amount of produce 

 which may be obtained &quot;from fifteen Ghent acres of light land 

 and moderate fertility, which should be cultivated by the spade, 

 with the help of a horse and cart. They will maintain four milch 

 cows, and a heifer, a horse, two or three hogs, and a couple of 

 young pigs; sending to market, or consuming in the family, the 

 following produce, deducting seed : 



90 bushels of wheat. 

 90 &quot; &quot; rye. 

 30 &quot; &quot; buckwheat. 



100 &quot; &quot; oats, leaving twenty bushels for the horse. 

 An acre of flax. 

 60 bushels of rape seed. 



8 cwt. of butter, from four cows. 



2 fat hogs. 

 A heifer and two calves, sold annually.&quot; 



