PREPARING THE LAND FOR FLAX. 11 



clean up the furrows, and throw all the clay or mould roughly 

 on the top of the ridges so that it may have the benefit of 

 the frost through the winter, and the furrows being so cleaned 

 the rain and snow as it melts gets away, and the land is 

 always easily dried and in a labourable state ; if the weather 

 permits they plough it deeply down early in February, and 

 early in April they give it another deep ploughing, and 

 before they commence sowing they are prepared if they 

 consider the land not rich enough, with a compost, which 

 they collect purposely for their Flax crop through the 

 winter, from shamble's privies, etc., etc., to which they add 

 a quantity of Eape cake, and after giving the ground a 

 light stroke of the harrow, they give the soil a light covering 

 of this compost, leaving it, if damp, to dry but only sufficient 

 to harrow ; they then give it a smart stroke of the harrow, and 

 then it is in a fit state for the seed. Many use liquid manure as 

 a quick fertiliser, which they gather purposely for Flax culture, 

 and the quantity of both that are used they regulate from 

 their knowledge of the condition of the land. The Farms 

 being small, spade labour is the most common mode of pre- 

 paring land for cultivation, and as by the careful and exact 

 method they have of the alteration of the furrows every season, 

 they manage to have the whole field deeply dug over, in about 

 four seasons. They have soil so deeply prepared, that it is more 

 like our Garden Plots than common field ground. Some of 

 the best Flax ground in Holland is that which has been 

 reclaimed, and which consist mostly of sandy loam, shells, etc., 

 etc. ; but here again the spade labour tells in opposition to the 

 plough, as no people are better or I believe so well paid for 

 their labour as the Dutch Farmers, and the spade is the prin- 

 cipal Agricultural implement they use. 



Having explained the continental mode of preparing the 

 soil for Flax, and the necessity of deep ploughing and deep 

 trenching, which is decidedly the best labour for any crop I 



