. A free farmer in a free state: a study of rural life and industry and agricultural politics in an agricultural country . en to have beenbroken up and thrown about. These areas need levelling to begin witli, for the sandunderneath moss litter peat goes up and down. When thepeat is eventually levelled, sand—which is dug out of thecanals—is carted over it and spread to a depth of fourinches. Then the surface obtained is ploughed just suffi-ciently deep to mix a little peat among the sand. Theresult is a kind of soil to make gkid the heart of a gardenerwho has suffered all his life from a chroni
. A free farmer in a free state: a study of rural life and industry and agricultural politics in an agricultural country . en to have beenbroken up and thrown about. These areas need levelling to begin witli, for the sandunderneath moss litter peat goes up and down. When thepeat is eventually levelled, sand—which is dug out of thecanals—is carted over it and spread to a depth of fourinches. Then the surface obtained is ploughed just suffi-ciently deep to mix a little peat among the sand. Theresult is a kind of soil to make gkid the heart of a gardenerwho has suffered all his life from a chronic inability, owing 202 A FREE FARMER IN A FREE STATE to the stickiness of his soil, to get on the land, for whathas been obtained is an easily-worked peaty soil with plentyof water within reach of the roots of the crops. From timeto time, of course, the plough is set a little deeper, and thusmore and more peat is gradually united to the sand and thehumus brought to the top spit by cultivation. For a fewyears the farmers horses wear wooden over-shoes, which,acting on the same principle as snow-shoes, make possible. FarmhousesCotta^es^Shopfceepers Scc) ■I Main Canal £S1 — Subsidiary Canals □nS: Roadr^ Bridges Single Canal Fen Colony System This necessitates a bridge over each subsidiary canal. The cottages are also cutoff from one another easy movement over the springy surface. At length, how-ever, the land gets sufficiently solidified for these foot-guardsto be dispensed with. It is not easy to give a general estimate of the cost ofturning high fen into farm land, for the conditions naturallyvary a great deal. From the first assault on the morass, tothe cutting and complete removal of the peats, we may say,perhaps, somewhere about £i^o per acre. Then comesthe preparation of the farm. Levelling and sanding maycost about six guineas per acre, and the farmhouse and GRONINGEN 203 buildings other six guineas. This is about ^^143 per this are to be set the rec
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