368 Report on the Agriculture of Denmark^ loith a Note on 
year : the first cut is made into hay, and the rest is given green 
to the cows in the stalls. About 5 acres of turnips are grown 
for the sheep and cast-cows. Mr. Petersen expresses himself 
thoroughly satisfied with the results of his system as compared 
with those obtained by his neighbours who adopt the Koppel- 
wirthschaft farming ; while the latter look upon their neighbour 
as a theorist and an experimenter, but not as a practical farmer. 
This opinion is strengthened by the fact that Mr. Petersen 
has invented a peculiar system of pipe-draining, the essential 
features of which are that the pipes follow the contour-lines of 
the surface of the land, and are furnished with shuttles and 
other contrivances to enable the drainage water of the higher 
land to be used, when required, for the subsoil irrigation of the 
lower. 
The Marshes. — The name of this district suggests to an 
Englishman a tract of rich pastures with little or no land under 
the plough ; but this would not be an accurate description of all 
the marshes of Denmark and the Duchies, for the proportion of 
grass to ploughed land still varies very much, notwithstanding that 
the tendency to convert tillage into pasture has recently been 
stimulated throughout the marsh country by the high price of 
meat and the increasing cost of labour. There are several distinct 
marshes, more or less separated by inlets of the sea, or by the 
mouths of rivers which discharge into the Elbe. They are 
generally known by the name of the principal town situated 
within their confines, and thus we have the Tondern Marsh, the 
Wilster Marsh, the Krempe Marsh, &c. ; while the Eiderstadt 
and other Marshes take their name from the river or inlet of the 
sea which separates them from adjoining drainage districts. 
All, or nearly all, the marshes are at a lower level than the 
sea and the rivers, which form two-thirds or more of their 
boundaries, and from which they are protected by dykes and 
ditches, as in the Low Countries proper. Indeed, history shows 
that so long ago as the 12th century these marshes were first colo- 
nised by Dutchmen, who were driven from their own country 
by disastrous floods of great magnitude. In opposition to our 
proverb that " A burnt child dreads the fire," they emigVated to 
a district of the same character as that from which they had 
been flooded out, and carried with them their agricultural prac- 
tices and their engineering skill. To this day, the language 
and dress of the people, as well as their homesteads, show their 
Dutch origin ; and, until recently, the system on which rents 
were calculated, known as " Hollanderei," told the same tale. 
In this Report it is impossible to go furtlier into these matters, 
which, especially the dykes and the drainage, can be much 
better studied in Holland — their original home. 
