CONCLUSION. 491 



mainly due to this cause. The greater equableness of our 

 chmate gives to plants a lengthened period oi vegetation 

 and greater equableness of growth. German potatoes, 

 planted in England, are apt to grow too big. If in the pro- 

 duction of hay and clover we do not, in Mr. Middleton's 

 tables — in spite of our more favourable climate- — come up to 

 the measure of our Continental competitors, the fault lies, 

 not with the climate, but with the insufficiency of proper 

 pabulum which we provide for these crops in our soil. We 

 can sow^ rye in August or September, to give us a bite in the 

 autumn, and it may be, another bite or clip in spring, and 

 yield a ripe crop in summer. To get an autumn bite — a 

 spring bite is out of the question — the Germans have to sow 

 their rye at the end of June — hence the name " Johannis- 

 korn." We sow wheat almost up to Christmas. The 

 Germans begin sowing it on Holy Cross day (September 14), 

 and would not think of sowing it in December, though they 

 sow late rye in that month. When you have had a goodly 

 portion of an exceptionally heavy potato crop spoilt by an 

 early frost, occurring in the middle of the lifting season, as I 

 did in 1864, and half your rye crop killed in the midst of the 

 blossoming season, on May 26, as happened to me in 1866, 

 you do not feel disposed to sing the praises of the climate 

 over-loudly. Such a thing as "Continuous Cropping " would 

 be out of the question in most parts of Germany. Leaving 

 cattle out in the fields during the winter would simply kill it. 

 Look at our pastures ! Look at our orchards and our market 

 gardens ! Quite apart from strawberries, in respect of 

 which we appear to enjoy a peculiar monopoly among Euro- 

 pean countries, Germany cannot produce such fruit as we do 

 in our best orchards. Belgium is far more on a par with us, 

 because it has a climate similar to ours, not to mention its 

 glowing underground shale, which produces something like 

 hothouse temperature. Denmark is decidedly at a disad- 

 vantage in comparison with ourselves, in respect both of 

 climate and of soil. And yet, by means of superior know- 

 ledge and more careful application and organisation, it 

 outstrips us in the production of its ow'n particular produce, 

 which it wisely selects so as to make it suit its agricultural 



