294 
Agriculture of Denmarh. 
jjeneral use. Seed-drills have, on larjj-er farms, replaced tlie 
system of sowing by hand, saving of seed and less dependence 
on weather being the result of their use. Their superiority has 
now been generally admitted. Of other machines, such as those 
for cutting roots, for crushing oil-cakes and corn, a few may be 
found, but they are exceptional, and cannot be said to have any 
influence on the agriculture of the country. 
Ploughs and harrows are generally well constructed, but rollers 
are very inferior ; they are always made of wood, and conse- 
quently not heavy enough for their purpose, though, from their 
peculiar construction, they are too cumbrous for the horses to 
draw. Of harrows, two kinds are used, both with wooden frames 
and iron teeth. The one is rectangular, and serves for light 
■work ; the orher, called the Swedish, is triangular, and is used 
for deep harrowing. The latter is now considered as indis- 
pensable as the plough. Some years ago a very clumsy, heavy, 
wheel-plough was in common use ; it required two men, with 
four, sometimes six, horses. This is now entirely superseded by 
the swing-plough (after Scotch or American models) which re- 
quires only one man and two horses, and does its work better. 
Some of these are made entirely of iron, others are of wood and 
iron ; the former form an important branch of the Danish iron 
manufacture ; the latter are made on the farm or by the village 
blacksmith and wheelwright. 
The hand implements have only attracted attentfon of late 
years; those now used are generally made after American models. 
Treatment of the Soil. — The soil is usually well culti- 
vated. The fallow, first introduced at the end of the last and 
the beginning of the present century, is now common on all 
the large farms, and even on those of some yeomen, yet the 
latter, as a rule, do not appear to understand that the succeeding 
crops of corn repay the additional labour and the temporary loss 
consequent upon allowing the soil to rest one year as fallow ; they 
therefore frequently sow a mixture of tares and oats, or some 
leguminous plant instead, and their land consequently suffers 
much from weeds, though they freely use the plough and harrow. 
The land on large estates is invariably better cultivated than that 
of the yeomen. 
The fields are generally ploughed once or twice in autumn 
and ao'ain in spring, after which the Swedish harrow is applied. 
The Danish farmer, though he carefully cultivates the surface of 
the land, is unwilling to plough to a greater depth than five or 
.six inches, if as much ; on a few of the larger estates the soil is, 
however, sometimes ploughed deeper. 
The scythe is used for harvesting corn,* and it is here believed 
that a labourer can do four times as much work with it as with a 
