44 
THE CULTIVATOR. Feb. 
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY OF EUROPE. 
FARMING IN HOLLAND 
Utrecht, Holland, Nov. 20, 1846. 
Messrs. Editors —I find the season here so far ad¬ 
vanced, that comparatively little is to be learned of 
1 practical agriculture, and I have, therefore, as yet, 
made no excursions into the surrounding country, that 
is, nothing more than short walks. My ride from 
Antwerp to Utrecht was rather interesting, as enabling 
me to see jsl wide extent of Dutch cultivation, and I will 
give you a sketch of those things which chiefly arrested' 
my attention. 
Antwerp is not at a very great distance from the 
Dutch frontier. The border land between Holland and 
Belgium, is a wide desolate looking tract of sandy moor, 
for the greater part entirely neglected. There was, 
however, in many places, a considerable thickness of 
organic matter above the sand, which would go far 
towards making an excellent soil. In some places I 
saw holes, where a substance resembling marl or clay 
had been raised to the surface, and laid in heaps. Were 
it either marl or clay, it would be highly useful on such 
light sandy soils. Great improvements are commenc¬ 
ing here, and some flourishing looking farms begin to 
appear amidst the surrounding desolation. 
The Crown Prince, I hear, has large possessions on 
these moors, and energetically promotes and encourages 
everything promising to advance cultivation there. 
I was not able to ascertain, except by a hasty glance 
in passing, the system upon which these improvements 
proceed. Each one of the fields was enclosed by an 
open ditch, that indispensable accompaniment of a 
Dutch farm. In many cases, the turf, bushes, &c., 
&c., were burned, being collected in heaps ; and the 
ashes afterwards spread over the whole surface. 
After passing Grootrunslert, the first town in Hol¬ 
land, we entered a fine agricultural district. The crops 
were all thriving, and the fields bore evidence of care¬ 
ful and laborious attention. This district, North Bra¬ 
bant, seems to be all drained as thoroughly as the na¬ 
ture of the case will admit. The summer level of the 
water is generally not more than 18 inches or 2 feet below 
the surface, and there is scarcely any fall ; in the winter 
the whole country is frequently covered with water for 
months. The houses placed on slight elevations, and the 
roads on embankments, are alone visible. Such was the 
case in January of the present year, when I passed through 
this very district. These circumstances all united, ren¬ 
der it necessary to make the drains large and open, 
thereby interfering of course to a considerable degree 
with economical cultivation. These ditches become 
grown up and choaked with weeds every year ; in 
all directions we saw men cleaning them with a spe¬ 
cies of rakes, drawing the vegetable masses brought up 
directly into boats, or forming heaps on the land. 
These cleanings of the ditches must form an important 
item in the Dutch farmer’s list of available and effective 
manures. In some places I have seen men dipping up 
the black liquid from the bottoms of the canals, and 
laying it up in heaps on the banks. This mud, from 
its black appearance, must be rich in vegetable decom¬ 
posing matter, and very well fitted to form compost 
heaps, or even to spread directly upon the land, after a 
winter’s exposure to frost and warmth alternately. 
The large ditches on almost every farm, form a kind of 
canal, navigable by boats, carrying several tons ; in 
.these, manure is often carried from, one part ©f the farm 
to another, and the products of the various fields 
brought home. On some of the farms, horses would 
scarcely be necessary except for plowing. Farm vehi¬ 
cles seemed very few in number, and those few awk¬ 
ward in shape, especially the wagons, with high and 
narrow bodies, greatly elevated from the ground, and 
rising at both ends. From the forward axletree. a stick 
three or four feet long, turns upwards, and curls over 
towards the front board of the wagon box ; this is gene¬ 
rally terminated by a brass knob, which, in well regu¬ 
lated establishments, is kept scoured to a great degree 
of brightness. I had no opportunity of seeing any of 
the farming implements. I expect to find the Dutch 
far behind in this respect. 
About half way between Antwerp and Utrecht , w© 
passed through Breda, a large and very strongly forti¬ 
fied town. It is entirely surrounded by low, marshy 
ground, and in winter the water in the ditches is nearly on 
a level with the streets. After leaving this place, we 
came to a broad tract of rich, fertile land, partly a rather 
stiff clay, but afterwards becoming a fine light loam in 
appearance. Both of these kinds of soils appeared to 
be of great depth. The draining was as perfect as 
possible under the circumstances, and as I have de 
scribed above; the water standing from eight to eight¬ 
een inches below the surface. The crops on the whole 
of this tract were remarkably luxuriant. Of course 
we could say nothing as to the grain crops, but the 
grass and the turneps particularly arrested our atten¬ 
tion. The turneps seem universally to be sown broad¬ 
cast, and are not thinned out ; and the consequence is 
a great mass of leaves and stalks. How large the 
roots were we had no opportunity of judging. A largo 
farmer, living in the neighborhood of Breda, rode 
with us some miles, and gave us much information 
as to his own farm and the practices of the country. 
I think the Dutch farmers and proprietors in general, 
can hardly equal this gentleman, who spoke French, 
German, and Italian, and read English with ease. The 
learning of foreign languages is, however, in so small a 
country as Holland, a matter of necessity to any one 
who ever goes a hundred miles from home. 
We learned from this gentleman that in his section, at 
least, the Dutch are very deficient as to rotation of 
crops ; in fact they have no rotation at all; they take 
as many successive crops of grain as they choose, or as 
they can. The land there is so good that this system 
may be carried on for a long time ; but in many sec¬ 
tions of the country I should think that they would bo 
driven to a different course. 
As I am only now about half way in my journey, I 
will stop for the present, and give you the conclusion at 
another time. Yours very truly, JohnP. Norton. 
NOTES of a TRAVELLER in ENGLAND— No. II. 
Plowing. —The neatness and perfection with which 
the plowing is usually performed in England, is re¬ 
markable. and invariably attracts the attention of the 
traveller. The furrow-slice is much narrower than 
that usually seen in America; from nine to ten inches 
I found to be the usual breadth. Great care is taken 
that the furrow should not only be of the same breadth, 
but also equal care is taken that it should be of exactly 
uniform depth. The depth of the furrow is generally 
two-thirds of the breadth, and this enables the plow¬ 
man to lay all his furrows in the proper position, and 
