18 AGRICULTLRE ON THE RHIXE. 



and manured, and in the following spring barley and 

 clover are sown ; the grain obtains the highest price in 

 the Dutch markets. It is not unusual to turn the cows 

 on the stubbles, but each is fastened by the stable chain 

 to an iron stake driven into the ground to prevent stray- 

 ing, as the lots are small in these parts, and no fences 

 are to be found. A number of cows thus staked at 

 grass look at a distance like the regular files of cavalry in 

 skirmish. 



The second year gives a rich clover crop, partly for 

 stall-feeding, in part to be saved as hay, and the third 

 (sometimes the second) cutting gives the seed known in 

 England as Dutch clover-seed, from the circumstance of 

 its passing through Holland on its way to London and 

 Hull. When the seed has ripened and been housed,* 

 the clover is broken up, and after several ploughings 

 wheat is sown, which is followed by rye. Turnips are 

 sown in the rye-stubbles, and the fifth year begins the 

 rotation again with potatoes, followed by barley and 

 clover in the highly manured soil. In soils less pecu- 

 liarly suited to barley (which recommends itself as a pro- 

 fitable article of exportation) wheat and rye follow pota- 

 toes or flax, and are followed by oats. Cabbages and 

 carrots often alternate with potatoes as fallow crops, and 

 are richly manured, and in most large farms the two 

 rotations go on side by side on lands of diifering quali- 

 ties. Perhaps the absence of expensive fencing favours 

 the study of the peculiar nature of the soil, which is evi- 

 dently severely tried by the rotations we have described. 

 Where composts with marl or lime are used as top-dress- 



* The yield of seed is, according to Lobbes, 1000 lbs. to 

 the Dutch bonnier, or about 5 cwt. per English acre. 



