On the Agriculture of the Netherlands. 



45 



spade 2 or 3 feet wide, and as deep as the trenching is intended, gene- 

 rally 2 feet, or at least 20 inches ; this ditch is filled with the earth 

 which is taken in long thin slices from the edge of the solid side of the 

 ditch. Every slice is distributed carefully, so as to mix the whole, and 

 keep the best soil at top, and likewise to fill up hollows and level emi- 

 nences. If there is more than can conveniently be spread level, little 

 heaps are made of the superfluous earth, which are afterwards carried, 

 in an ingenious manner, to fill up more distant hollows, by means of 

 horses and an instrument which is called a mollehart. Wherever there 

 is a pan, it is carefully broken, and the loam, which is always found 

 under it, is mixed with the sand dug out. Draining is seldom required 

 here, except that which is effected by making deep ditches to carry off 

 the superfluous rain-water, which, in a country almost as level as a lake, 

 is no great difficulty 



*' If there is no manure at hand, the only thing that can be sown on 

 poor sand, at first, is broom : this grows in the most barren soils ; in 

 three years it is fit to cut, and produces some return in fagots for the 

 bakers and brickmakers. The leaves which have fallen have somewhat 

 enriched the soil, and the fibres of the roots have given a certain degree 

 of compactness. It may now be ploughed and sown with buckwheat, or 

 even with rye, without manure. By the time this is reaped some manure 

 may have been collected, and a regular course of cropping may begin. 

 As soon as clover and potatoes enable the farmer to keep cows and make 

 manure, the improvement goes on rapidly ; in a few years the soil under- 

 goes a complete change : it becomes mellow and retentive of moisture, and 

 enriched by the vegetable matter afforded by the decomposition of the 

 roots of clover and other plants 



" If about 20 small cart-loads of dung can be brought on each acre 

 of the newly trenched ground, the progress is much more rapid. Potatoes 

 are then the first crop, and generally give a good return. The same quan- 

 tity of dung is required for the next crop, which is rye, in which clover 

 is sown in the succeeding spring ; and a small portion is sown with 

 carrots, of which they have a white sort, which is very productive and 

 large in good ground, and which, even in this poor soil, gives a tolerable 

 supply of food to the cows in winter. Should the clover fail, which 

 sometimes happens, the ground is ploughed in spring, and sown with 

 oats and clover again. But if the clover comes up well amongst the 

 rye stubble, it is cut twice, after having been dressed with Dutch ashes 

 early in spring. It is mostly consumed in the green state. The clover- 

 ley is manured with 10 cart-loads of dung to the acre, and rye sown 

 again, but not clover. After the rye comes buckwheat without any 

 manure ; then potatoes again, manured as at first, and the same rotation 

 of crops follows. It is found that the poor land gradually improves at 

 each rotation from the quantity of dung used 



" For want of sufficient manure, broom-seed is sometimes sown with 

 the rye after the clover. The rye is reaped, and the broom continues 

 in the ground two years longer. It is then cut for fuel. The green tops 

 are sometimes used for litter for the cows, and thus converted into 

 manure. It is also occasionally ploughed in, when young and green, to 

 enrich the land. Oats, clover, and broom are occasionally sown to- 



