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AGRICULTURE OH THE RHINE.
A macadamized road has opened the romantic valley of
the Sieg since 1840, and along this line cartage is gradually
being transferred from oxen to horses. The habits of
the agriculturists, however, do not change so rapidly as
mechanical improvements advance at the present day ;
and the roads to the mines being in their ancient con-
dition, oxen are likely for some to predominate. The
small miners occasionally use their milch cows for draught,
as is the case all over Germany.
In the year 1837, the official returns showed for the
circle of Siegen, a stock of cattle on the German square
mile (20g English square miles), amounting to 30 horses ;
1276 horned cattle ; 624 sheep ; 113 goats; 325 pigs.
The population in the same year having numbered
3440 on the German square mile, the number of horned
cattle was nearly one for every two inhabitants, which will
serve to show, how great the proportion of draught oxen
must have been. The circumstances of the country prevent
it having any thing remarkable in arable agriculture to
interest the practical farmer. Every slope in the wind-
ing valleys yields a different return, and rye, oats, and
potatoes of poor quality, and scanty in quantity, repay
the peasant badly for the time he abstracts fɪom other
occupations to apply to their cultivation. More than
10 to 12 bushels of rye per acre cannot be calculated
upon as return from the “ Hauberg,” and 3 sheffes of
potatoes from the Prussian “ ruthe,” or 150 bushels to
the acre is considered a good crop of this root. Turnips
are constantly sown in the oat stubbles, although the damp
of the autumn and the early frost at night prevent their
attaining even a moderate size. Flax is cultivated to
Aghicultube on the hhine.
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some extent in some of the valleys near Siegen, where
hand-loom weaving is the employment of many of the
peasants. The poor earnings obtained for this work
have recently induced those who could do so to seek
other occupations.