62 



On the Agriculture of the Netherlands. 



the length from the insertion of the handle to the sharp edge is nearly 

 the same. Sometimes it is wider than it is long. In the middle of the 

 border on each side are strong iron hooks (§"g), which are connected with 

 the iron on the bottom. It is drawn by chains fixed to these hooks and 

 united into a large link (A) a little before the edge of the instrument. 

 To this link are attached a common whipple-tree and bars, to which two 

 horses are yoked abreast. Attached to the end of the handle is a strong 

 rope of the size of a man's little finger, 14 or 15 feet long. This the 

 driver holds coiled in the same hand which holds the handle, the reins 

 being in the other. It is now ready to begin its operations. The man 

 depresses the handle so that the edge of the shovel rises upwards, and 

 directs the horses towards a heap or an eminence to be removed. As 

 soon as they reach it the handle is raised, the edge of the instrument 

 enters the ground or the bottom of the heap, and it is soon filled with 

 loose earth. The handle is immediately depressed, and the whole load 

 slides on the bottom of the shovel over the sandy surface, until it arrives 

 at the hollow which is to be filled. The handle is then raised suddenly 

 as high as the man can reach ; the edge catches the ground, and the 

 whole machine is overturned forwards, the handle striking on the whip- 

 ple-tree ; the load is thus left behind. The rope, of which the workman 

 kept the end fast in his hand, now comes into use, and by pulling it the 

 instrument is again reversed, and proceeds empty for a fresh load. All 

 this is done without the horses being stopped for a moment. A skilful 

 person will spread the earth at the same time that he deposits it : this is 

 done by holding the rope so that the handle shall not fall over at once, 

 but remain for a short time in an erect position. The earth is thus de- 

 livered gradually, and laid level by the edge of the instrument scraping 

 over it. It is astonishing how much labour and time are saved by using 

 this instrument instead of carts. It takes up about 500 cwt. or more of 

 earth each time, and this load slides along with the greatest ease to the 

 horses : in returning they generally trot. More complex instruments 

 have been invented to answer the same purpose, some of which are ex- 

 tremely ingenious, but the simplicity of this, and the small expense at 

 which it may be made by any common wheelwright or carpenter, or 

 even by the farmer himself, strongly recommend it ; and we do not 

 hesitate to assert that, with a very little practice, any common labourer 

 who can manage horses will do as much work with this simple instru- 

 ment as he would with the more perfect and ingenious machine which 

 obtained a prize from the Highland Society some years ago." — pp. 17, 18. 



With these instruments, materially assisted by the spade and 

 shovel, the whole of the tillage in the Netherlands is performed. 



In ploughing the land, in some districts, they lay it flat, without di- 

 visions. In others, as the Waes district, the fields are all laid in a 

 convex form when they are trenched, and kept so by ploughing round 

 in a circle upwards towards the centre. Where the loam is not very 

 pervious to water they lay the land in stitches 1 or 8 feet wide, as is 

 usual with us. They plough across the stitches occasionally, and reverse 

 the crown and furrow, or change the interval so as to be in a different 

 line every year, which in the end tends to deepen the whole soil. The 



