THE CULTIVATOR. 
6 
The winter crops were full of tares and perennial rooted weeds: 
summer crops abounded in wind radish and mustard, the clover with 
wild chamomile, sorrel, &lc., and the fields with dog’s grass and 
other noxious plants. How many of our farms now forms a coun¬ 
terpart to this description of Flottbeek 1 
The means of improving which the baron instituted to raise the 
condition, and increase the fertility of this farm, consisted princi¬ 
pally in, 
1. Levelling the surface, and thorough drainage. 
2. Deepening the krume, or soil, at least one inch a year, till he 
had gained a depth of 14 inches—this depth being requisite, in his 
opinion, for the roots of plants to penetrate, and as a n servoir for 
moisture, to supply the crop in time of dry weather. To obtain 
this depth, trench ploughing ( rayolt) was resorted to when neces¬ 
sary. 
5. Increasing the fertility with the increasing depth of the soil, 
by ploughing in green crops, and by husbanding and judiciously ap¬ 
plying manures.—the latter applied to the potato and rape crops, 
and before it had become exhausted by fermentation. 
4. Throwing the land into one-bout ridges in autumn (it being 
generally flat and rather stiff) and cleaning the intermediate fur¬ 
rows with a double mould-board plough. This operation enriched 
the soil by atmospheric influence, broke down its stubbornness, and 
laid it dry, so that the spring operations could be commenced two 
or three weeks earlier than formerly. 
ft. Thorough pulverization preparatory to putting in seeds, and 
giving these only a superficial covering of earth. 
6. Graduating, by a scale which the Baron’s long observation 
and numerous experiments had enabled him to contrive, the manure 
to be applied, to the precise demands of the soil and crop-—thus re¬ 
ceiving the whole benefit which it was capable of imparting, with¬ 
out loss by excess. 
7. A judicious rotation—in which green crops often intervened. 
The rotation was one of six years, as the clover, which he ob¬ 
serves forms the basis of agriculture, cannot return oftcner. The 
intermediate crops were wheat, oats, mixed fodder, barley, rye, po¬ 
tatoes, vetches, rape, fcc., the climate of Germany not. admitting 
of the culture of Indian corn. 
In 1829, Flottbeek exhibited a far different appearance from what 
it did in 1813. All the fields showed a level surface—the krume 
or mould had every where a depth of 14 inches. The fields ren¬ 
dered dry by ditches, and under water carried off by 27 under drains 
—no noxious plants infesting the ground, save the dog’s grass 
when the clover happened to be frozen out—and the produce so 
much increased, as that the same area which, in 1813, would yield 
on'y 14 bushels rye, in 1829, was found to produce 24 bushels of 
wheat. 
We think there is much in Baron Von Voght’s practice that com¬ 
mends itself to the notice of our farmers. The means which he 
employed are within our reach, and the advantages of using them 
manifest. The climate of Germany is not very dissimilar to ours, 
save that ours is rather the most mild. That the readers of the 
Cultivator may understand the principles upon which the improve¬ 
ments at Flottbeek were based, we subjoin them in the Baron’s own 
words. 
“ The few general principles adopted here, with all kinds of pro¬ 
duce, are the fruit of thirteen years’ experience, and several thou¬ 
sand experiments. 
“ 1. The soil must have 11.280 to 14.100 inches of krume, in or¬ 
der to admit of the roots penetrating into the ground; that in wet 
weather, the water which in a flat soil might drown the crops, may 
be absorbed, and formed in the deep into a reservoir, from which 
the extremities of the roots may imbibe a nourishing moisture, im¬ 
pregnated with carbonic gas, which it draws from the manure fer- 
men ing in the earth.* 
“ The krume must have a depth of 14.100 inches, in order that 
the exhausted surface, being buried at a greater depth, may reiin- 
bibe the lost moisture. 
“ This I obtained by having the land ploughed in autumn, at a 
* Thaer mentions the following proportion of the value of the soil, with a 
flat and deep mould. “ If,” says he, “ the soil, with a mould of 3 inches, is 
worth 38, that possessed of 5 inches of mould will be worth 50 ; that of 8, 62; 
and that of 11, 74 and this entirely agrees with my experience at Flottbeek. 
Should we then hesitate to spend a few years, and some manure, thus perma¬ 
nently to enhance the value of our field ? 
depth of about 5.640 to 7.520 inches, then having it finely harrow¬ 
ed, and finally rayolt it with two ploughs, one behind the other, 
(the last with four animals;) this requires, of course, swing ploughs, 
as it is absolutely necessary to plough before rayoled. 
“The latter operation is usually performed by oxen. 
“ 2. In autumn, all ditches must be opened, and all the drains 
examined, so that the water may not be stopped in any place. 
“ 3. All rayolt land must be laid in high furrows, by means of 
ploughing, always two furrows together, after the rayoled and fur¬ 
rowing, so as to make a water furrow at every 16.920 inches, which 
is deepened and cleaned by means of double struckbutt, (boards 
fixed to the plough;) with a clayey soil: this operation is indispen¬ 
sable. 
“ The advantage of this mode of treatment is, that it keeps the 
soil dry, and renders it capable of being "cultivated three weeks 
sooner than other shallow land; that it. avoids stiffness, and, on the 
contrary, the high ridges being frozen through in winter, are found 
very mellow in the spring. I cannot deny that in autumn this re¬ 
quires four kinds of ploughs, (the two last of which may certainly 
be considered as only half kinds of plough?,) instead of one kind 
generally used on large farms. Moreover this depth of mould 
cannot be obtained in less than ten years, when, at the same time, 
the disadvantage of an inferior sub-soil can be repaired by manure, 
which will add about one inch of mould a year—a method quite 
impossible on large farms, and on small ones, attainable only by a 
proprietor, and never by a farmer. 
“ These high furrows are separated in spring with the four horse 
split plough; if the land is quite clean, it may, after being harrow¬ 
ed in the manner which will be mentioned hereafter, be immediate¬ 
ly sown; but if it is not, it is hooked crossways. 
“ 4. All the land which is not rayolt,—because there remains 
from the preceding harvest too much manure on the surface, which, 
if the next crop should want it, must not be removed too far, is, if 
it. bears no manure crop, ploughed in autumn, first shallow, then 
deep, and lastly laid in high furrows. In spring, in which there is 
as little ploughing as possible, it is, after the splitting, according 
to the necessity of the crop and soil, first harrowed, and then hook¬ 
ed crossways, or only harrowed in the manner prescribed. 
“5. It is a principal maxim to sow a green crop for p'oughing in, 
in the rape seed stubble, as well as in the corn stubble, where no 
clover has been sown. In August, I use for this purpose rape 
seed ; in the beginning of September, turnips; from the middle of 
September to the middle of October, rye; then there is but one 
ploughing in autumn, a method which I recommend, on large farms. 
“ The manure crop is in the spring shallowly rayolt in, and is 
equal in its effects to 3.914 to 5.811 loads of manure per acre. 
“ 6. One observation which leads to the most important results, 
was the certain conviction, that it is the vital power of plants, 
which by the incomprehensible faculty of decompo-ition and assi¬ 
milation, by means of their leaves and stalks, constantly imbibe an 
incredible quantity of substances, in the shape of gases and manures, 
and convert them into their own elements, rejecting what they do 
not want, changing what they have received into a new body, and 
so continuing till they have formed their blossoms ; that the root, 
which till then keeps growing and oozing out moisture, only begins 
when its growth is perfected, powerfully to decompose that which 
surrounds it, and alone supports the fruit, whilst the leaves and 
stalks are fading; that the vital point of the plant has its seat ex¬ 
actly in the centre of the germ, from which it forces the root into 
the earth and the s'alk upwards ; that, every thing depends, in the 
first growth of the plant, on keeping this point in health and acti¬ 
vity; that this should be done in sowing. . 
“ 1. When the surface is as much as possible pulverized, in or¬ 
der that the seed-corn or potato shoot be surrounded by, or rather 
laid on earth finely divided, in which the fibres of the root may 
quickly shoot, and where air, moisture and warmth may operate 
with facility. 
“ 2. When the shoot, laying on such a pulverized surface, being 
covered only a couple of lines, in order that light, air, warmth, 
dew, and other atmospheric moistures, may immediately excite the 
vitality in this point, and thereby promote the development of the 
germ and procure nourishment to the first leaf. 
“I refer wi'h regard to this, especially to the specimens of 
dried plants kept ready for the inspection of the visitors, which se 
