50 AGRICULTUKE ON THE EHIXE. 



a place in a description of Rhenish agriculture. Yet an ex- 

 cursion to the county of Ravensberg will repay the curiosity 

 of any one desirous of studying flax-cultivation. The soil 

 devoted to it is of the richest description, so that flax 

 forms the third crop from the manured fallow. Beans 

 are sown on the fallow, wheat follows, and then comes 

 flax. The country-people point out the districts where 

 flax flourishes best, and trace the limit of its degenera- 

 tion. Here again we find the system of making the most 

 of the land by the simplest routine. Forcing by a more 

 studied rotation has not been attempted. As however 

 flax equal in quality to much of the Belgian flax is pro- 

 duced in the county of Ravensberg, the effect of ma- 

 chinery and railroads will be to stimulate the cultivation 

 of a crop v.hich the peasants understand well. We re- 

 member to have seen a piece of Bielefeld linen at last 

 year's exhibition at Berlin, which the king had purchased 

 for 112 dollars, or 18/. 16s. 



We shall, however, invite our readers to follow us in 

 ascending the valley of the Ruhr to its junction with 

 the Lenna. The country all the way presents the same 

 pleasing appearance. Nor is the view less gratifying 

 where the road recedes from the romantic banks of the 

 river, on which castles, ruins, and factories rapidly suc- 

 ceed each other. 'J 'he disposition of the agricultural 

 tenements continues the same. The house, with its ad- 

 jacent woods, stands everywhere on the farm in the 

 manner we described near Essen. The frequent tall 

 chimneys indicating the sites of coal-mines, round which 

 labourers' cottages occasionally cluster, point to other 

 sources of industrial earnings for a large portion of tlio 

 dense population. 



