The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-03-23
THE STEPPES.
The Marvellous Richness of Fertility of the
Hungarian Soil.

The Marvellous Richness Of Fertility of the
Hungarian Soil.
The aspect of these steppes i'm Hun
gary varies considerably according
to the nature of the soil. In some
places it is DOGGY. in others sandy and
incapable of cultivation; in others
again it is marvelously rich and fertile,
producing crops that an English az
riculturist would deem absolutely fab
ulous. In such areas it has been dug
to the depth of five hundred feet with
out the bottom of the soil having even
then been reached. Wheat, poppies-
the latter grow for kind of confec-
tionery-sunflowers, buckwheat, hemp,
flax and maize are all cultivated largely.
In some parts of the plains the method
adopted is to plant or sow in strips IF
about eighty feet wide by several miles
In length. and the stranger as he
lounges along in his britzska or letter
toagen through the long. straight roads
which seem to lead nowhere but the
distant shore beyond. and sees no
habitation far or near-iS led TO
wonder where the people live, for
whom the roads are made. who is
found TO cultivate the soil. and whether
benevolent earth spirits do not rise
during the night 10 till the land, sow
the seed, and hoe and weed those end
less lines of golden wheat and purple
peoples. The soil so fertile. the
harvests, az | have said. are wonder
fully abundant. and this i'm spite of the
great drawbacks to which the crup>
are subject from drought on the one
hand and foundations on the other. I'm
truth, the poor Magyars live on the
confines OF these two perpetually
threatening calamities. The for
mer is believed TO be- due i'm
great measure To the absence
of trees-a phenomenon that strikes
the traveller Immediately on en-
tering the Alfold. To remedy this evil 1
In some degree, viz, the dryncss of !
soil, trees are being planted plcmtifully I
I'm various parts, while In others attempts (
are made To irrigate the land by means |
Of canals. The foundations, however.
are a difficulty that can never be over
come. Year by year a war offensive
and defensive Is waged between the
waters of the Danube and its two tribu-
.arIes-the Maros and the ThCiss- and
he unfortunate inhabitants Of the
owns and villages on its banks. As
he beds of the rivers rise the dikes are
-alsed also. but when the streams that
nave their source in the Carpathians
'ars is ore 81 eSiiiap If tRs Mag=
icial barriers being strong enough TO
esist the great pressure thus suddenly
brought to bear upon them, the result
,eing the bursting of the dikes and the
of the surrounding country.
There is also another phenomenon pre-
judicial TO the interests of the land, the
'ivers flow subterraneously; in dry sea-
IONS they drain the soil by attracting
Is moisture to themselves, and during
leavy rains the water of the over-full
'iyers, percolating through the light
llluvial soil, converts the plains into
gigantic swamp. Nor are these the
,nly unfavorable physical conditions
If their country which the Hungarians
rave 10 encounter, the Danube is con-
SANITY changing its course, having in
'ome instances left towns and villages
many miles distant which were once
situated on its banks. while il now
lows close TO others which were origi.
lally far away.-Tempte BaS.