Continental Farming. 
157 
It was truly distressing to sec the waste of labour that was 
taking place in making a new highway at Tokay : 2 men and 
2 boys were employed making an open drain at the sides, but 
doin<r less work than one of the men could have done with a 
good spade and shovel. The hoe was their only tool, and they 
were working thus : one man hoed up the alluvial earth, and 
scraped it into a basket which one of the boys held between the 
hoer's feet until filled ; then he handed it to another man on the 
bank, who threw it into a waggon, in which a boy was placed 
to throw out the baskets. Now these men were harder worked 
than one of them would have been digging up the earth and 
filling it into the waggon. Spades and shovels appear to be 
unknown in this part of the world ; the hammers also used for 
breaking the stones are far too heavy. I regretted to see how 
they wasted the stones in making this road ; they were carting 
them of all sizes just as they came from the quarry, and throwing 
them down promiscuously among the muddy earth, into which 
the waggons were cutting almost axle-deep ; then they merely 
levelled the top of the load, and broke any stone that rose above 
the rest. They then threw more stones on, and partially broke 
them. Thus are the roads made by the government of a great 
empire and noble race of men in the nineteenth century. From 
Tokay to Szathmar we travelled by post-conveyance, namely, a 
light waggon and three horses ; the expense under %d. a mile 
English. This was a wretched journey over a miserable track- 
way, no part of which was made with hard materials. Much of 
it was scarcely passable ; in fact, if an hour's rain falls, the road 
almost becomes impassable. All the way from Tokay up to 
Neurithaze, upwards of 40 miles, the land is a vast plain of 
alluvial soil of great natural fertility. About half is in grass, 
upon which large herds of oxen are fattened. The farming is 
bad ; the growth of tobacco, rapeseed, potatoes, and sunflowers, 
which return little or nothing to the land in the shape of manure, 
has much reduced the powers of a naturally rich soil. Many of 
the crops of potatoes, maize, and tobacco were excellent, though 
poorly cultivated ; the crops of wheat, rye, and oats were generally 
light, about 2 to 3 quarters per acre of wheat, 4 of rye, and G or 
7 of oats. Some land that had been better manured was ffrowino; 
heavy crops of wheat, and some newly ploughed-up grass-land 
had an immense crop of oats and tobacco growing upon it. 
There are numerous marshes that are lakes in winter ; these 
swarm with wild-fowl and grow reeds of great length and strength. 
Neurithaze is a large straggling town, planted all round, and 
having some beautiful walks and promenades. From Neurithaze 
to Karolz is about 30 miles of a poor sandy district of an undu- 
lating form ; the sand is red, and so light that it often drifts by 
