The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-09-11
German Agriculture.

The account given by Mr.. Hewitt of
German agriculture cannot fail TO interest
our readers:
Each German has his house. his garden,
his roadside trees, SO laden with fruit that
it he did not carefully prop up and tie TO-
gether, and in many instances hold the
boughs together with wooden clamps,
they would be torn asunder by their own
weight, He has his corn plot, his plot
Of mangel-wurtzel, or hedge for pola-
toes for hemp, SC. He is his own mas
ter, and he therefore, and every branch
of his family have the strongest motive
for constant eXertion. You see the effect
Of this in his industry and his economy.
In Germany nothing is lost. The pro-
duce of the trees and the cows is carried
to market; much fruit is dried for winter
use. You see it lying in the sun TO dry.
You see strings OF them hanging from
their chamber windows in the sun. The
cows are kept up for the greater part OF
the year, and every green thing is collected
for them. Every little nook where the
grass grows by roadside, and river and
brook, is carefully cut with the sickle,
and carried home on the heads of the wo-
men and children in baskets, or tied in
large cloths. Nothing OF any kind that
can possibly be made OF any use is lost /;
weeds, neties. hay, the very goose grass
which covers The waste places, is cut and
taken for the cows. You see the little
children standing in the streets of the
villages, in the streams which generally
run down them, busy washing these
weeds before they are given to the cat
tie.
They carefully collect the leaves of the
marsh grass, carefully cut their potato
tops for them, and even if other things
fail, gather green leaves from the wood
lands. One cannot help thinking contin-
ually Of the enormous waste of such
things in England-oi the vast quantities
Of grass on banks, by roadsides. in the
openings of plantations, in lanes, in
church-yards. where grass from year to
year springs and dies, but which, if care
fully cut, would maintain many thousand
cows for the poor.
To pursue still further the subject of
German economy. The very cuttings of
the vine are dried and preserved for win
ter fodder. The -ops and refuse of hemp
serve as bedding for the COWS; nay, even
the rough stalks Of the peoples, after the
heads have been gathered for oil, are
saved, and all these arc converted into
manure for the land When these are
not sufficient, the children are sent into
the woods TO gather moss, and all our
readers familiar with Germany will re-
member to have seen them coming home
ward with large bundles of this on their
heads. In autumn, the falling leaves are
gathered and stacked for the same pur
pose. The fir cones, which with us lie
and rot in the woods, are carefully collec-
ted and sold for lighting fires.
In short, the economy and care of the
German peasants is an example to all E,-
rope. They have for years, nav ages.
been doing that, as regards agricultural
management, to which the British public
Is but just now beginning to open its eyes.
llme' also, is as carefully economical as
every thing else. They are early risers,
as may well be conceived when The chill.
dren, many Of whom come from a consid.
cradle distance, are in school at six in the
morning. As they tend their cattle or
swine, the knitting never ceases, and
hence the quantity Of stockings and other
household things which they accumulate
is astonishing.