MODE OF IMPROVING SAND WASTES IN THE VICINITY OF THE SEA, ETC. 
*5U 
MODE OF IMPROVING SAND WASTES IN 
THE VICINITY OF THE SEA. 
During a residence of several months on that 
extensive and beautiful estate of the late Mr. 
Van Eys, Mayor of the city of Amsterdam, situated 
between the city of Haarlem and the North Sea, I 
enjoyed a fine opportunity to observe the manner 
in which the farmers of Holland reclaim the Downs 
(Duines in Low Dutch), described by Professor 
Norton on p. 316, of your sixth volume. Intelli¬ 
gent and able landowners, in the vicinity of the 
Downs, mark ofif, say one, two, or more acres of 
these sand wastes, contiguous to their cultivated 
farms. These spots they closely plant, in parallel 
rows, with the down grass (Arundo arenaria ), 
which casts a pretty deep root into the moist parts 
of these beds of sand. Afterwards they inclose 
them with a hedge of hawthorn, or a close * bush 
fence, as an additional protection against the incur¬ 
sions or the winds. In a couple of years more, 
they sow them with buckwheat, or turnip seed, 
which, when sufficiently grown, is plowed under 
and sowed with winter rye. In the succeeding 
spring, this land is well manured, and planted with 
potatoes, which, although not abundant, are of 
that fine quality so justly ascribed to them by Pro¬ 
fessor Norton. After this, rye is '.again sowed. 
Thus hundreds of acres in this manner are re¬ 
claimed from useless wastes and rendered available 
for agricultural and other useful purposes. Some 
of these reclaimed lands, I have seen covered with 
thrifty plantations of oaks, which, by the intelli¬ 
gence and industry of man, have amply rewarded 
him for his labor. 
Mr. Van Eys, who was a truly practical as well 
as scientific agriculturist, was in the habit of add¬ 
ing, from year to year, lands taken from these 
Downs, to his cultivated fields, and rendering them 
equally productive. I have walked along fields of 
rye, at his place, which might have afforded me a 
convenient hiding place. The country seat of Mr. 
Van Eys was known by the name of “Boekenrode,” 
from the magnificent beech trees, which imparted 
great beauty to the place. 
Augustus Wackerhagen. 
Clermont, N. T., Jan., 1848. 
HYDRAULICS FOR FARMERS. 
Every farmer, especially in a northern climate, 
must be aware that the comfort of his stock through 
the inclemency of winter is essential to carrying 
them through that season in the most economical 
and of course the most profitable manner. To in¬ 
sure this degree of comfort, sheds and stables in 
which they are protected from driving storms, high 
winds, and intense cold, are indispensably neces-1 
sary • for it is now a well established fact with our 
best stock growers, that the expense of such sheds 
and stables is fully liquidated by the saving of fod¬ 
der and increase of thrift in the animals in a very 
few years, probably before the buildings erected for 
their benefit need their first repairs. And there are 
other objects gained by the housiftg system for 
stock. They are rendered more docile by the ope¬ 
ration. The cow or the ox that has been accus¬ 
tomed to be frequently or almost universally housed 
through the inclement season from the early days 
of “ calfhood,” will almost invariably possess ex- 1 
cellences which are seldom found among animals 
doomed to roam at large and seek shelter where it 
may, and sometimes where it may not he found— 
behind buildings or fences, the disjointed sides of 
which make hut miserable pretensions to the ob¬ 
jects to which the helpless and ill-fated animal 
appropriates them. 
There is another subject connected with the 
thrift of the farm yard which is no less important 
than nice warm stables and good comfortable sheds. 
That is water for stock of which they need a regu¬ 
lar supply, as they do of feed or protection. This 
fact is unquestionable, and therefore needs no com¬ 
ments, as every useful and observing farmer knows 
full well: yet how often it is the case that the poor 
animal is turned adrift to contend with piercing 
winds and almost impenetrable drifts of snow, while 
it plods its way to the well remembered spring, the 
pure, cool waters of which, so often allayed the fe¬ 
verish thirst of summer, to sip the healthful 
draught that winter’s wants require. What hook¬ 
ing and pushing and crowding is often witnessed 
by the way, and when the already enraged group 
gather round and in angry dispute, contest each 
others claim to the sparkling fountain and how 
they look, and how they feel when they return to 
the barn after such a pilgrimage, attended with such 
conflicts ! 
Many of our farmers, it is true, have seen the in¬ 
conveniences and unprofitableness of such a state 
of things, and have remedied them by introducing 
pure streams of water into their yards, so that the 
animal may go to the tub at any time, or at all times 
when liberated from the stable to take the libations 
that nature so promply demands. Those who have 
done so, have found economy in this, though in 
some instances, the first cost, from the distance of 
the spring, involved considerable expense, by the 
saving of their own time, the saving of the comfort 
and thrift of the animal, and the saving of manure, 
which, instead of being left in a line from the barn 
to the spring and around the spring where it is not 
wanted, is now deposited in the yard, ready at the 
farmer’s move to be taken to the spot where its 
value will be most advantageously realized. Hence 
it must be concluded that it is for the farmer’s in¬ 
terest to have a constant supply of pure water in or 
very near his farm yard, in order that his animals 
may drink singly, or together, when, and as often 
as they please. 
The frequency with wmch farm buildings are 
situated on elevations, however, seems in many in¬ 
stances to preclude the possibility of introducing 
water to them, from the springs, which are often 
all situated so far below, as to shut off the possi¬ 
bility of getting supplies from them by the usual 
method of an aqueduct. But another method to ac¬ 
complish this object has been found, and from its 
utility has been liberally adopted, and this with a 
success fully equal to the expectations of all who 
have adopted it. I refer to the introduction of Ben¬ 
son’s hydraulic ram, not that hydraulic rams are a 
new thing, for Montgolfier, a Frenchman, invented 
one long ago; but this of Benson’s, so simple in 
construction, so easily kept in repair, and so regu¬ 
lar in its operations, is to us northerners altogether 
new. The first of Benson’s I saw, was set up 
about two miles from my residence, as an expert- 
