BHUGES. ?M 



remarked, are not only exempt from the ravages of the Jly * 

 (the feeding season of the animal being past) ; but it has 

 been observed that, on account of their more vigorous 

 state in November, they withstand the winter frosts much 

 better than those sown early, proving equally hardy as the 

 Swedish turnip. 



The plough here used was light, and was held with the 

 left hand alone of the ploughman : it turned over the surface 

 merely ; but the soil being naturally shallow, there seemed 

 no motive for deep plowing, and at any rate a slight furrow 

 was sufficient for a second crop. The kind of wheat 

 cultivated is the common winter sort (Triticum hiber- 

 num), and also the red wheat (T. turgidum). Spelt, or 

 the wheat raised by the ancient Romans (T. spelta), is 

 likewise sown in a few places : the flour of this last is fine, 

 and is said to be preferred for pastry. Some of the old 

 pasture meadows have a rich clothing of grass, composed 

 chiefly of Poa trivialis, pratensis, and annua, interspersed 

 sometimes with large tufts of Cyperus longus. 



We were now in the country where the Great Purple 

 Trefoil, or Broad Clover (Trifolium pratense var.), was ori- 

 ginally cultivated. It is here called Mecrsche klaveren, or 

 marsh clover, because it is found to succeed best in their 

 moistest fields. We saw some rich meadows, from which 

 two crops or cuttings, from ten to fifteen inches high, had 

 already been taken, and which would soon yield a third. 

 These fields had been manured with Dutch ashes, which 

 are considered as extremely advantageous to a clover crop, 

 and are- brought in vessels from Rotterdam by the indus- 

 trious farmers of this country. Much broad clover seed is 

 saved in Flanders, and exported to the more northern parts 



* A small kind of beetle, the Haltica nemorum of entomolgists. 



C 



