AGRICULTURE ON THE RUIKE. 17 



this district, compost heaps are to be seen in al*l yards ; 

 the substances used for one resembled a mixture we have 

 seen in some parts of Ireland. A heap of quicklime is 

 covered all over with turf-ashes, or with wood-ashes from 

 the house-stoves. Water is thrown over the heap, and 

 after a few days the lime, in fermenting-, shows itself 

 through the ashes ; the heap is then turned over, again 

 covered with ashes and watered, and this process is 

 repeated until the lime is thoroughly slaked ; the mass 

 is then mixed with sand or eai-th, or other compost heaps, 

 and forms an excellent top-dressing. The use of turf 

 and wood ashes for manure, especially to prepare the 

 land for flax, has spread into this district from Flanders. 



The advantage of keeping horned cattle for draught is 

 increased for the farmer who has his own distillery and 

 brewery, by feeding them on the grains. The number 

 of stock kept is large, even on those uplands where there 

 is little grazing ; one horse for twenty acres is the propor- 

 tion of the best farmers, but then fifteen to twenty-five oxen 

 and cows would be the smallest number of horned cattle 

 on one hundred acres, with one to two hundred sheep. 

 On a peasant's farm of fifty acres, we have found four 

 horses, fifteen head of horned cattle, and seventy to eighty 

 sheep. 



In following the use to which the farmer puts this 

 manure, we come to the distinguishing feature in Rhenish 

 agriculture. No peculiar crop is here prescribed by 

 legislative enactment, and the climate admits of a suffi- 

 cient variety to allow the landowner to draw all the help 

 he can from the nature of his soil. The uplands of 

 Cleves are particularly well suited to grow barley. In 

 the autumn the land of this- description is well ploughed 



