56 



On the Agriculture of the Netherlands. 



labour and manure, and consequently are less valuable ; but every 

 deficiency is made up by additional industry. But it may be 

 asked, where can a farmer find manure, solid and liquid, to 

 manure nearly all his land every year ? for of all the crops culti- 

 vated buckwheat is the only one which is sown without some 

 manure, at least by all good farmers. This is the great point to 

 which the attention of the farmer. is constantly directed. The 

 collecting and preparing of manure is a profession of itself. The 

 poor in towns sweep the streets, and make composts of all refuse 

 matter in some spot given to them for that purpose without the 

 gates. They reduce it to a fine powder, and dry it in the sun. 

 What will chemists say to this ? Will not all the volatile parts 

 fly off, and the best portions of the manure be lost ! We will 

 not pretend to give an answer to this objection : but the fact is, 

 that this dry manure is most highly prized by the growers of flax, 

 and is supposed more efficacious than any other, night-soil ex- 

 cepted. This last is the ne plus ultra of manure for light soils. 

 It is conveyed in boats from the different towns, and deposited in 

 pits, where it is collected and kept for sale by measure. In a very 

 dense population this resource is considerable, and no one would 

 be so wasteful as to allow the common sewers to carry off a sub- 

 stance which is regularly sold and obtains a good price. 



These are adventitious resources, and can only be depended on 

 in certain localities. The only certain means of obtaining 

 manure is by feeding cattle, which in the Netherlands are chiefly 

 milch cows. No meadows are required in the light lands of 

 Flanders for the cattle to graze in : and where there are mea- 

 dows along the banks of the rivers, they are mown to feed the 

 cows with grass in the stalls, or to make hay for winter fodder. The 

 whole system of husbandry is founded on the supply of manure, 

 and a considerable portion of the crops are merely subservient to 

 this purpose. The immediate profit on the cattle is trifling, if they 

 do not even cost more to feed than their produce will repay : but 

 the manure must be had ; and he who can procure manure at the 

 least cost is the best farmer. Keeping this in view, all the cattle 

 are kept in stables, that none of the manure may be lost ; and 

 every mode of feeding has been tried which will increase the 

 manure at the cheapest rate. Meadows being scarce, and hay 

 dear in those parts of the Netherlands where the soil is sandy, 

 the chief food of cows in summer is grass, barley or oats, cut 

 in a green state, clover, tares, and spurrey ; and in winter cab- 

 bages, beans, and roots. These last are not given in their natural 

 state, but soaked in warm water, or boiled into a mess, which is 

 given milk-warm to the cows in troughs ; so that it may be truly 

 said, that the cows are fed like pigs. The straw is used chiefly 

 as litter for the horses. The cows often lie on smooth bricks. 



