54
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE
sion of labour, amidst numerous and active competitors.
The German is still in that kind of dependence on the
soil which apparently secures subsistence, and conse-
quently independence, even if accompanied by poverty.
In these and other districts, where the population has
rapidly, of late, accumulated, the peasants are in a state
of transition from the one position to the other.
The population of the counties of Berg and Mark ap-
proaches that of the most densely peopled parts of Great
Britain.
|
1 Circle of Diisseldorf . |
Population. |
Per Eng. |
|
I „ Solingen . . |
. . 57,978 . |
. . . 594 |
|
Berg. < „ Elberfeld . . |
. 104,532 . |
. . . 940 |
|
I „ Lennep . . . . |
. . 60,320 . |
. . . 542 |
|
I „ Duisburg . . |
. . 85,627 . |
. . . 350 |
|
„ Hagen .... |
. . 62,097 . |
. . . 404 |
|
M∙,Λ » Iserlohn . . . |
. . 34,469 |
. . . 272 |
|
ιvιarκ. n 1 „ Bochun . . . |
. . 43,930 . |
. . . 294 |
|
„ Dortmund . . |
. . 42,555 . |
. . . 250 |
On reaching Barmen and Elberfeld the traveller has
the choice of following the line of the new railroad to
Diisseldorf, or taking the hilly post-road to Cologne
by Remscheid, Solingen, and Burtscheid. On the line of
the railroad the country presents much the same appear-
ance that it docs between IIagen and Barmen, but grows
more decidedly agricultural, and the holdings increase in
size as the railway recedes from the Wiipper. In the
hills OfRemscheid and Solingen—the contrast between the
cheerful cottage cultivation we have described and some of
a very different description is striking. These hills present
to the eye a mass of round elevations intersected by deep
ravines. The small streams that run through the glens
AGBICCbTUKE ON THE RHINE.
55
are carefully shrouded by plantations of alders, and at
convenient distances the water is collected into ponds,
which furnish power for the working of small steel ham-
mers or grinding-stones. The sides of the hills are
nearly all under grass, although the water cannot be
carried over them ; and, indeed, it is too precious for the
manufacturer, who works here on a very diminutive scale.
The cottages of these owners of the hammers and the
grindstones are usually small and poor in appearance, and
stand at some distance from the little mills. It is easy
to follow the calculation that seems to prescribe green
crops, as demanding less time and attention than others,
where the labour thus saved can be usefully applied.
Under these circumstances, and with the prospect of
an early railroad communication with the corn growing
counties of central Germany, the prospects of this district
must also tend to a diminution of corn crops, and an in-
crease of garden and dairy cultivation, to the great gain
of the landowners as well as of the consuming population.