Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-09-06
Dutch AurIcuIture.

Mr.. Charles Barnard, who writes to the Eve
Ming Post, the entertaining and Suggestive let
tiers of Gan American Farmer Abroad" says of
Dutch husbandry:
As the stranger approaches Amsterdam, regi-
ments Of windmills and hattalons Of tall Chin
neys rise out of the green, prairic-likC meadows,
and he at once remarks: "What an industrious
people! They are devoted to manufactures
How much steam and wind power they em-
plovP
Yet the truth is, manufactures are not the
leading interest. Commerce and agriculture
pile up the Dutch accounts at the worlds banks.
These ccaselcss windmills and undertaking
chimneys are but aids to a truly national agri-
culture. The theme Of the Dutch conquest of
Hoand-thc bloodless capture OF the country
from the sca-has been sung thread-bare. do
not propose TO rehearsc it. ANY guide-book will
tell the tale. 1t is sufficient to know that vast
tracts of water have been enclosed by dykes,
been pumped dry, and now smile in richest
green or load the air with the fragrance of acres
of hyacinths. The financial side of the subject
has never been noticed. In brief the process is
something like this
The sea flows over certain shadows. The
shore belongs to private parties or to the state,
as The case may he. Beneath the water is II
thick layer of fine black mud. In its present
position it is useless. Exposed to the air it will
make the finest soil that can be imagined. A
company is formed and possession taken of the
tract of water. At great expense an earthen
wall is projected into the sea, enclosing a Ger
tain space. Powerful pumps are erected. Steam
or wind power is applied, and the seemingly
hopeless task of pumping out whole square miles
of water is attempted. The engineers take their
places, and the stockholders go to sleep or die,
as the fancy strikes them. Wait they must and
years will slip away before the bottom of their
lake appears. If their pockets were anything
but Dutch their bottoms would appear before
the land. AT last wet bog takes the place of
the sea, and ships sail up and look over the
bank upon the new discovered country. The
main work of the pumps is done, but months
must pass before the owners can even walk upon
the soft black mud. bitches must be dug
through it, and joined one to the other, so that
the pumps may bcgin once more and drain the
last drop from the spOn%y soil. In about two
years after it appears the land is fit Tor the
plough.
Then comes the first dividend for the patient
stockholders, and the heirs drag forth the for
gotten wills to see who owns the new country.
The land is divided into farms of convenient
size, and sold or let at handsome profit. Here
after the only expense is TO keep the dyke in or
der, to pump out the rainfall and collect the
rent. The happy shareholders may 20 to sleep
or travel. All is secure unless the dyke bursts.
They need not con Germ themselves on that score.
Other men build houses with the chimney tops
on level with the sea, and risk their all on these
sunken farms, and the mere shareholders may
Ddc III peace, Inc details OF the care OF these
reclaimed farms, or pOldeTs, as they are called,
the government of the pumping machinery and
the regulation of the amount of rain water SUI
fered to remain in the ditches does not concern
us. What we want are facts concerning the hor-
ticulture and agriculture carried on behind these
miles of sea-wals.
Can this sea bottom produce crops that will
repay both farmer and dykeman2 win it bear
the cost of culture and maintain the steam
pumps that must lift every desirable drop of
rain that falls on hundreds of square miles of
territory? A mere glance at Dutch agriculture
shows that money in abundance comes from
something. IL not from the soil, then the peo-
pie are living on the interests of their debts or
some other unknown piece OF property. Thou
sands of sleek cattle Craze over the rich, level
meadows; vast gardens, crowded with unryalcd
vegetables, lie fat and warm in the shelter of the
dams, while miles of nurseries and bulb planta-
tons stretch along the artificial coast.
Concerning the soil few words may be in or
der That about Amsterdam and Haarlcm is
the old sea bottom. In other parts of Holland
we shall find both river deposits, glacial refuse
and other qualities and kinds. The polder soil
is a fine, powdery mould, entirely composed of
vegetable matter in state of decay. 1t is free
from stones, always two or more feet deep, and
so porous that water passes through it readily.
For those plants to which it is adapted it stands
unrivaed in the world. By the use of sand
from the shore its usefulness is greatly extend
ed. In appearance, with or without the sand, it
seems rich, soft and valuable. Its black color
implies vegetable strength. One thing is Ger
tain: it bears crops that in their way rule the
markets of the world. Holland bulbs and Dutch
cheese need no heralding. The cheese, at least,
is in the mouths of all civilized men.