Agriculture of Denmark. 
2G9 
west coast and in central Jutland tlie soil is very sandy ; on 
the oast coast sands and clay-loams prevail ; on the islands of 
Funon and Scaland, clay-loams ; and on the islands of Lolland 
and Falstcr, stiffer clays: in many parts, especially in Jutland, 
are found considerable tracts of heath, moss, and bog. One 
of the latter, measuring about 22 English square miles, called 
the " Vild-Mose," and situated in the north-west of Jutland, it is 
now proposed to drain and cultivate. In some districts the marl 
reaches the surface ; in most places it is so near that it can be 
used as a fertiliser without great difficulty or expense. A great 
many rivulets or inlets of the sea intersect the country, and the 
meadows on their borders are extremely rich. 
The formation of territory on the west coast of Sleswig and 
Holstcin, which may be regarded as the gift of the sea, deserves 
special notice. Every sea that rolls from the oc ean towards the 
west coast of Sleswig and Holstein holds in suspension some fine 
particles of sand and clay, which are readily deposited when the 
waves approach the shore and lose their force in consequence of 
the shallows ; this operation is assisted by the presence of nume- 
rous small islands, against which the waves are broken. From 
this clayey slime (called " Slik ") the marshes are formed. The 
deposit brought by each tide is extremely small ; fifty years 
are often required to form a foot of soil, but there are cases 
where a much shorter period has sufficed — for instance, during 
the great ice-floe of 1839, when in one night the deposit was 
8 inches deep near Husum. To assist the action of the waves,, 
the inhabitants have thrown out low dams just under water,^ 
which prevent the deposits from being again carried to sea by 
the ebb. These dams are constructed of poles, branches of 
trees, straw, and clay. Nature, too, has rendered assistance by 
assigning to the sandbanks a peculiar plant, called the " Queller " 
{Salicornea herhacea), without leaves, but with horizontally 
shooting arms, which impede the flow of the water and 
become a kind of embankment for the collection of these clayey 
deposits. In this manner the margin of the ocean rises in the 
course of time so much above water that it is inundated only 
during spring-tide. Nature then supplies this land with an 
unusually fine and plentiful herbage, after which it is called 
" Foreland," and is chiefly used for the grazing of sheep. When 
a sufficient " Foreland " is formed, the construction of dykes 
commences. The highest spring-tide known was that of 1825, 
which rose 19 feet above highwater-mark ; to guard against 
such a risk, the dykes in Sleswig vary in height from 22 to 
24 feet ; in Eiderstedt and Holstein from 30 to 40 feet. 
■ The new dykes are substantially built, with the side towards 
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