AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
67 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR IN GERMANY,'—NO. 6. 
BY COUNT DE GOURCY. 
Translated for the American Agriculturist from the Journal 
d’Agriculture Pratique. 
On my return to Stkasburg, my first visit was 
to the Ostwald House of Refuge for children, 
founded by the municipal corporation of the 
city. It is a very large establishment, as com¬ 
modious and convenient as possible, without 
useless luxuries. I entered Ostwald just at the 
time the inmates were going out, and found the 
director seated on the porch, quietly smoking 
his pipe. I requested permission to visit the 
farm; he ordered an overseer to accompany me, 
and resumed his seat. 
This individual walked along without any 
conversation, as he could not answer my inqui¬ 
ries on agricultural matters. 
The pupils of the establishment are separated 
into two sleeping-rooms, according to their age. 
I was informed that the Government, with a 
view to prevent young persons being detained 
in the prisons, had projected two new buildings 
at Ostwald, calculated to accommodate as many 
inmates as there are at present in the old one; 
this very laudable intention inspires a hope that 
the institution will be placed on a better footing, 
with a more complete and efficient arrangement. 
I am told scarcely a week passes without some 
escape being made. At Mettray, on the con¬ 
trary, where the 'inmates are five times more 
numerous, nothing is more rare. 
Ostwald and Mettray are, nevertheless, 
made up of the same elements; but their ma¬ 
nagement is essentially different. 
Travelling through Alsace, on the railroad, I 
found myself seated in a car with one of the 
sisters of charity of the convent of Carmes, in 
the Vosges. She was a woman already advanced 
in years. Having lost her sight by cataract, she 
had undergone three operations, twice without 
success; the third, performed by Mr. Clark, 
son of an English prisoner of war, settled at 
Verdun, restored her sight perfectly, but she 
suffered so much that she was confined to her 
bed four months; her nerves were still so much 
affected, that she was obliged to travel to restore 
them. She had been on a tour for six weeks 
when I met her, and was going to spend a day 
at each sister’s house, established in various 
parts of Alsace, but all emanating, like herself, 
from the Portieux Convent, near Carmes. Dur¬ 
ing the time she was at Verdun, Mr. Clark 
had given sight to a child born blind by cata¬ 
ract. One may travel far, without finding an¬ 
other equally clever operator. 
From Strasburg to Niederbroun, a distance 
of about thirty miles, I crossed a well-cultivated 
tract, covered with various crops, almost all in 
good condition, though in many spots the soil 
was very bad, especially where a gravelly sand 
prevailed, resting on white sand, such as is used 
for scouring copper pans; this sand is in many 
places only about ten inches from the surface. 
I saw, on the Bischwiller common, meadows of 
considerable extent, which they had ruined by 
cutting a bed of excellent turf from two to three 
feet deep, used for fuel in the numerous manu¬ 
factories of this canton, which are very interest¬ 
ing to visit. When the turf is cut, the soil is 
used for hop-plantations, which flourish in this 
region. The vicinity is covered with them. 
On my arrival at Niederbroun, the rain pre¬ 
vented me from seeing any thing. I set out on 
the following morning early for Wissemburg; 
the distance is about twenty-five miles. The 
route is across a mountainous country, where I 
observed very fine woods of magnificent oaks 
and villages, the outskirts of which are very 
well cultivated. The majority of the houses 
give indications of comfort. Their fruit trees 
are very fine, especially the walnuts. 
M. Mansuy had been mentioned to me as a 
clever cultivator; he is from Lorraine originally: 
my father was acquainted with him. I visited 
him, and he showed me his farm, containing 
thirty acres. A portion of the land is. moist and 
heavy; the balance is light land, resting on a 
sub-soil of red sand. This soil produces nothing- 
less than fine crops. 
M. Mansuy manures his land every three 
years, applying about twenty cubic yards to the 
acre; to this he adds nearly 2,000 gallons of 
liquid. All the crops on this farm are remark¬ 
ably fine ; carrots are sown in rows between the 
rape. M. Mansuy grows two kinds of maize, 
one for fodder and the other for the grain. I 
observed at his place a very good soiling crop, 
made up, according to the method recommended 
by M. Dezeimeris, of forty-day maize, buck 
wheat, millet, vetches, six-week peas, and white 
mustard. Separate portions of the field have 
been sown with these different plants, so as to 
afford an opportunity of saving the seed. 
The rape and other plants which require the 
use of the hoe, are sown in rows, by means of 
a small sowing machine. The lucerne here is 
in excellent condition. The natural meadows 
are converted into cultivated fields, and are 
much more productive in this state. The pro¬ 
prietor is at present engaged in founding an 
agricultural school. He has brought from 
Nancy a very clever gardener, and a professor 
of agriculture from Baden. 
I afterwards visited M. Gaugler, postmaster. 
His farm consists of about fifty acres of arable 
land, and the same of meadow; in addition to 
this, he has twelve and a half acres of vineyard, 
which he manures each year, applying about 
ten tons to the acre. 
He has three very large cows, and one of very 
small size ; they arc of the Baden stock; their 
color is similar to that of the Schwitz cattle. 
The smallest, when lately calved, gives about 
twenty quarts of milk daily; the large ones, 
which are very fine animals, do not give much 
more. 
M. Gaugler keeps eighteen horses. A por¬ 
tion of these are used as relays for the mail- 
coaches. Those which run, in addition to the 
usual allowance, are supplied with ten quarts of 
oats per day. The common allowance is, in 
winter, five pints of oats and twelve pounds of 
hay, divided into three feeds; in addition to 
this, they are allowed, at each feed, beets, carrots, 
or Jerusalem artichokes, cut raw, and cooked 
potatoes, the whole mixed with hay and cut 
straw. The allowance of roots is twelve pounds 
at each feed. This is sufficient for the working 
horses, which are not used for travelling. He 
allows one pound of salt per week for each 
horse. This is scarcely sufficient, but he knows 
that the grooms take more, and some purchase 
with their own money an additional allowance 
for their horses. 
This farmer, like M. Mansuy, keeps in cisterns 
into which salt is thrown, the leaves furnished 
by the cultivated crops, carefully collected when 
the roots are taken up. He procures at the 
post-office a large quantity of manure, and also 
from the town. He uses about two hundred 
one-horse loads of city refuse, and purchases 
manure besides. 
The average produce of his wheat per acre is 
from thirty to thirty-five bushels, though it 
often reaches forty-five when it follows a crop 
of lucerne, where the field is broken up after 
having lain four or five years. After a crop oi 
lucerne, he takes on this strong soil, rape the 
first year; second, wheat; third, rye; fourth, 
barley or oats; fifth, vetches or feeding peas; 
sixth, wheat. 
All these*- oi-ops are produced without manure. 
He only takes four crops in succession, without 
adding manure, from the broken up lucerne 
field, where the soil is light. But generally he 
is convinced that as good crops are produced 
here as on the heavy soil. The light land, 
however, is worth only from $160 to $240 per 
per acre, so that the heavier portion is worth 
from $480 to $560. 
The rate of wages for men of ordinary 
strength and ability is about thirty cents per 
daj'. The women selected from the best work¬ 
ers receive twenty cents ; they reap the grain 
with a sickle. Rape yields from twenty-eight 
to thirty-two bushels per acre, and as much as 
thirty-five on broken-up lucerne ground; the 
average yield of oats is from fifty-five to sixty- 
five bushels per acre. M. Gaugler obtained 
one year nearly twenty-five tons of beets per 
acre. Clover gave an average of about three 
and a half tons per acre, and lucerne double 
that quantity. He gives much attention to 
Jerusalem artichokes, which he cultivates in the 
following manner : He gives them an ordinary 
allowance of manure, and leaves them four 
years in succession in the same field. The 
third year he renews the supply of manure. 
By this course his best soil yields about thirty 
tons per acre the first year, twenty the second, 
and about twenty-five the third, on account of 
the reiipplication of manure; and the fourth 
year the produce is about twenty tons; after 
which the artichokes are replaced by a crop of 
potatoes, which, in weeding, affords an oppor¬ 
tunity of destroying the artichokes remaining 
in the ground. After this he sows vetches, 
which are cut with the remaining stems of arti¬ 
chokes ; this eradicates them. He has tried 
salt for asparagus, and transplanted beets at the 
rate of two and a half pounds per acre. These 
two crops have been benefited by it very ma¬ 
terially. 
THE FARMER'S WIFE. 
With what cautious step should the farmer’s 
wife enter the pathway of life’s duties! I have 
been thinking of late that she needs an education 
for her sphere as truly as the ecclesiastic does 
to administer to us the Word of Life. She 
must be a student; she must know herself— 
must form a true relish for her life, just as the 
artist does for painting. Her eye must not be 
captivated by gay and gaudy ornament, however 
they may dazzle and shine and adorn the wife 
of the millionaire. Her attire should be a meek 
and quiet spirit. ’Tis true, the plain and useful 
in life seldom please upon a transient view; but 
when they have once pleased you, they please 
you for ever after. Only the heedless and inju¬ 
dicious are caught by the allurements of sensual 
pleasure. The farmer’s wife must be a reasoner, 
and she will easily learn that all is not gold 
that shines.” However wisely and well one 
may pursue wealth, honor, or power, he can 
never be secure against disappointment; but in 
the pursuit of virtue it is not so, since every 
honest and spirited endeavor after virtue is vir¬ 
tue in some degree, which, if we do not slacken 
our endeavors, will lead us on to a greater, until 
our goodness shines more and more “unto a 
perfect day.”— Exchange. 
