usually found underneath it a layer of good soil. There is no coal or other mineral wealth in the country. Peat is extensively found, and the preparation of it for fuel is an important branch of industry. Besides the turf-like form in which it usually appears, there is much taken up in a soft, semi-fluid state, not unlike tar, which, when pressed and dried, is the best quality of peat. It burns without smoke, and a piece once ignited retains the condition of a red-hot cinder for hours, until it moulders away into fine ashes. It is burned in foot-stoves, in houses and churches, and is used in dining-rooms to keep hot tea and coffee and other food. When this layer of peat is removed, the cleared space becomes a fertile field, and is kept dry like other fields in that country.

Labor and capital are continually applied to reclaiming bog land, and to constructing embankments on lakes and streams. There is a constant endeavor on the part of the government and the people to reduce the quantity of uncultivated land, and they do not shrink from the labor and expense demanded for this

purpose.

STATISTICS OF PRODUCTIONS.

The rearing of stock together with dairy husbandry is a great source of wealth to the farmers. Lean cattle are imported, principally from Denmark, which fatten rapidly on the rich pastures of the country. In 1859 an official report states that the live stock consisted of: Horses, 236,732; horned cattle, 1,232,199, of which there were, cows, 884,946; asses and mules, 3,000; sheep, 795,897; swine, 259,031; goats, 111,404.

From a report made to the Foreign Office in 1862, and published in the Farmers' (British) Magazine, it appears that many of the products of the Netherlands are the same as in England, but that some, as madder, tobacco, hemp, and chiccory, are either unusual or unknown in English husbandry. Rye is the grain most raised, and furnishes the principal food for the lower class of people. The quantity of grain raised is adequate to the consumption of the country. The average production is as follows: Wheat, 21 bushels per acre; oats, 33; barley, 29; rye, 15. Of root crops: Potatoes, 121 bushels per acre; mangel wurtzel, 10 tons

per acre.

The average yield of a farm in North Brabant, of one hundred and eightytwo acres, under high cultivation and paying a good interest on the investment, was: Wheat, 31 bushels per acre; rye, 35; barley, 54; oats, 65; beans, 42; peas, 28; mangel wurtzel, 21 tons per acre.

In 1853 the following statement of farm products was made officially: 177,065 acres in wheat produced 2,634,136 bushels; 448,648 acres in rye produced 7,064,288 bushels; 108,316 acres in barley produced 3,486,928 bushels; 211,218 acres in oats produced 7,844,680 bushels; 157,489 acres in buckwheat produced 3,792,440 bushels; 25,233 acres in peas produced 630,240 bushels; 32,404 acres in beans produced 2,724,064 bushels; 216,074 acres in potatoes produced 20,839,652 bushels; flax, tobacco, and other crops not given.

A writer in the Farmers' Magazine, who attended the annual meeting of the agricultural society of Holland in 1863, says that the show of cattle was good, especially of milch cows, which were of native breed, and which "yielded incredible quantities of milk." Fruit, he says, was fine, especially apples and pears. "Fine collections of wheat, barley, and other kinds of grain were exhibited, and the weight of mangolds, turnips, cabbages, and potatoes was astonishing."

EDUCATION AND MORALS.

We should have but an imperfect idea of the place which any nation occupies in the scale of civilization if we looked only at its industry and the development of its material resources. Hence we must observe the progress of education and

the state of morals among a people, and find the degree of mental cultivation which they have received and the extent to which crime is restrained.

In both these respects the Netherlands will compare favorably with any country. An admirable system of common schools exists, in which provision is made for the education of the poor, and in some of the provinces nearly every child of suitable age attends school. The late Prof. Bache, when president of Girard College, made a tour through Europe, examining the schools of every kind in England, Scotland, France, Holland, Germany, Prussia, and Switzerland. In the able and excellent report made to the trustees of the college on his return, he says of the schools in the Netherlands: "Among the primary schools of Holland are some of the best which I visited, and the whole condition of popular instruction is worthy of a nation which has ever been distinguished for its virtue and intelligence." The proportion of children attending school in all the provinces is exceeded by no country, unless we except Prussia. Each community or neighborhood is required by law to maintain at least one school. Competent teachers are provided, and the whole system of instruction is supervised by a board of education. In addition to common schools there were, in 1857, 944 schools or academies of a higher grade, containing 81,000 pupils, and 63 Latin schools, containing 1,802 pupils. Besides these there were three universities which contained 1,327 students. The high character of these universities is well known. The scholars who have been trained in them for eminent usefulness in all the learned professions have ever held a high rank in the republic of letters.

Nor has she been less distinguished for the hold which moral and religious truth has had upon the popular mind. Her struggles in the cause of civil and religious liberty against a gigantic despotism have been described with the pen of a master by one of our most eminent historians. Embracing the truths taught by the reformers, claiming liberty of conscience, rejecting the authority of tradition, and adopting the Bible as their rule of life, her people struggled for eighty years to achieve their independence and were successful. The prize was worth the contest, for civil liberty in Europe, so far as it is enjoyed by any nation, and perfect civil and religious liberty in America, was the result of the

contest.

A people thus trained was prepared to appreciate the pure morals which are inculcated in a religious community and which, to a greater or less extent, are a rule of life. The sanctities of the Sabbath and the sanctuary are very generally regarded, and although the population of the cities is proportionally larger than in any other country of Europe, there is much less crime than in any other European cities. The untiring industry of the inhabitants, the excellent instruction of the schools, together with the religious counsels of the clergy, have co-operated in rendering the country more free from crime than Belgium or France, and have caused, particularly during the last half century of peace, a steady advance in the social condition of her people.

COUNTRY ROADS.

BY HENRY F. FRENCH, OF BOSTON, MASS., ASSISTED BY I. HERBERT SHEDD, OF BOSTON,

LOCATION OF ROADS.

It may be said in general terms that the best line of road between two points is that which is shortest, most level, and cheapest to build and maintain, having reference to the kind and amount of travel it is expected to accommodate. It is manifest, however, that we can rarely adopt the route which is absolutely the shortest or most level possible, because of the intervening natural obstacles, such as hills, valleys, and streams, to overcome, which would often involve expense inconsistent with true economy. It is often practicable to cut through a hill or to fill up a valley, so as to construct a road both straight and level, at a cost not exceeding that deemed economical in the construction of a railway, but which would be justly considered extravagant and unjustifiable in building a common highway. There are other considerations beside that of economy which enter into the practical question of the precise location of a road. Some of these are of such a nature as very seldom receive much attention from "selectmen," or road commissioners, or even engineers, and yet they have an important influence on the development of the country into rural homes for a cultivated people. After our physical wants of food, clothing, and shelter are met, and the comforts of life are provided, we strive for the gratification of taste; and for nothing do we more willingly expend money than to enjoy the natural beauties of the landscape, with its wealth of forests and lake, and plain and river.

The borders of common roads are the convenient and usual sites for dwellings, and hence it is important so to establish these roads that they may at the same time furnish a safe and easy passage to the traveller and render the country through which they pass most attractive and valuable to its inhabitants.

A highway depends usually for its repair upon the labor of those who live along its line, and even if well constructed is seldom well maintained, unless it furnishes comfortable and attractive building sites. Primarily, we attend to the demands of traffic and business, yet in all the older portions of the country there is a large amount of what is termed pleasure travel, which always selects an agreeable route; and even the teamster, who seeks only the best way to his destination, feels safer in drawing his load through a settled country, where in case of accident he may find shelter and assistance. Therefore, highways are to be established where they will best accommodate those who, from all the various motives of business, convenience, or pleasure, may desire to use them.

In locating a highway we practically turn aside from what, on simply engineering grounds, is our best route, for various reasons. We hesitate, for instance, to cut a road through a churchyard, or to destroy a valuable tree or other ancient landmark, and we leave a direct course from motives of economy to find a narrow place of bridging a river, or to avoid the expense of crossing a pond.

A straight line, too, in an uneven agricultural country, although economical and the best, regarding only the travel from end to end, may so injure the farms through which it passes by deep cuts or by embankments, as to render them inaccessible or quite inconvenient of approach, and so detract from their value; when a deviation, very slightly increasing the distance, would leave the estates not only uninjured but increased in value. Highways are for the public good; and the interest of the towns or counties which construct and maintain them, and

the rights of the owners of land taken for them, as well as the accommodation of the travelling public and the traffic of persons residing in the places connected by them, are always to be weighed in deciding the final question whether the public good on the whole requires the highway.

It is true that damages are awarded to the owners of the land over which a public road is laid, and theoretically, though often not actually, the owners receive compensation for all the injury they sustain. This view, however, does not materially change the practical result. The best route, upon strictly engineering principles, may lead directly through a dwelling house so valuable that all would see that true economy requires a deviation to avoid the destruction of the building and the cost of paying for it. So, in a lesser degree, injury to the estates passed over, whether to buildings, gardens, or farms, may be regarded as an element in the decision of the final question as it is presented to the authorities charged with the power of establishing public highways.

Although it may appear from the foregoing suggestions, that the precise location of a road must be always more or less controlled by considerations of convenience, taste, and economy, outside the province of a mere constructing engineer, yet it is none the less important rightly to weigh and appreciate the considerations which relate to the grades and width and shape, and to the materials and cost of construction of the roadway, than it would be if the latter were the only points of inquiry.

To answer rightly the final question whether the public accommodation demands the interference with private property without the owner's consent, and its dedication to the public use for a highway, it must be determined in advance not only how much damage individuals will suffer by such interference, and how much advantage the travelling public will receive by opening the proposed road, but also whether it is economically possible to construct and maintain it sufficiently level, short, safe, and hard and smooth of surface to accommodate the intended travel. As all these are preliminary to the adoption of a definite route, they may be conveniently considered under the head of

SELECTION OF ROUTE.

Since the selection of a particular route must depend upon its satisfying the requirements for a good road, we will consider these requisites under the following titles:

1st. Directness, and loss by curves;

2d. Undulations;

3d. Grades;

4th. Soil and materials.

Directness-loss by curves. As every variation from a straight line increases the distance of travel, it is important to consider what sacrifice it is proper to make to preserve a direct course, and, as an element in this question, to determine how much such variation as is proposed increases the length of the route. An investigation of this point will show that the popular impression that roads should be straight at almost any sacrifice, is very erroneous. That such has been the popular idea, is evident by the most superficial inspection of the turnpikes, which, some fifty years since, were constructed throughout New England. Many of these roads were made absolutely straight, as to lateral direction, over hills and through swamps, for many miles, in a very uneven country. The saving of distance, when measured on a plane, as compared with the old country roads, was very great; but the result in almost every instance has been a financial failure, because the advantage of directness was greatly outweighed by the loss from steep grades. It was possible, indeed, by a great sacrifice of horsepower, before the introduction of railways, to convey the mails and a limited number of passengers over those hilly routes in shorter time than over the

crooked, ill-constructed country roads; but the expectation that heavy freight would ever be carried over these turnpikes was disappointed. What seems a great deviation from a straight course may add very little to the actual distance to be travelled. Between two points a thousand feet apart in a direct line, a variation of one hundred feet from that line at the centre, on a regular curve, will add but about twenty feet to the length of the route. Upon the question, whether it is desirable to have roads perfectly level, we find some disagreement. Parnell, who is high English authority, says a perfectly flat road is to be avoided, because a slight longitudinal slope is essential to proper surface drainage; and we have no hesitation in adopting this opinion as correct. The point is suggested here because of its bearing upon the subject of directness. In practice we are constantly diverted from a straight line by undulations, more or less marked, and may at pleasure, by more or less cutting and filling, construct our road per; fectly level or otherwise. In avoiding a hill by going round it, we may often adopt a level line, or we may assume a shorter one by adopting any grade we think proper, in keeping higher up on the slope. In view of every consideration, except drainage, the level line is probably best; but as drainage is essential, and, as will be seen when we come to consider the construction of roads, it is desirable to make them as flat as possible transversely, a slight slope in the length of them is found expedient. This slope should be about 1 in 200, which is sufficient for surface drainage without injury by washing, and adds little to the draught.

Undulations. It is a common impression that a road formed with gentle undulations is easier for a horse to pass over than a dead level. It is based upon the idea that an occasional change from ascent to descent, and the reverse, brings into play different muscles of the animal, and so rests them in turn, while a level road brings a constant strain on the same muscles. Professor Mahan says: "A road on a dead level, or one with a continued and uniform ascent between the points of arrival and departure, when they lie upon different levels, is not the most favorable to the draught of the horse. Each of these seems to fatigue him more than a line of alternate ascents and descents of slight gradients; as, for example, gradients of 1 in 100, upon which a horse will draw as heavy a load with the same speed as upon a horizontal road." The same writer says that "experience has further shown that a horse, at the usual walking pace, will attain, with less apparent fatigue, the summit of a gradient of 1 in 20 in nearly the same time that he would require to reach the same point, and trot over a gradient of 1 in 33." Of this idea that alternations of ascents, descents, and levels are easier for the horse than continuous level, Gillespie says: "Plausible as this speculation appears at first glance, it will be found, on examination, to be untrue, both mechanically and physiologically; for, considering it in the former point of view, it is apparent that new ascents are formed, which offer resistances not compensated by the descents; and in the latter, we find that it is contradicted by the structure of the horse." The question was submitted by Mr. Stevenson to Dr. John Barclay, of Edinburgli, "no less eminent for his knowledge than successful as a teacher of the science of comparative anatomy;" and he made the following reply: "My, acquaintance with the muscles by no means enables me to explain how a horse should be more fatigued by travelling on a road uniformly level, than by travelling over a like space upon one that crosses heights and hollows; but it is demonstrably a false idea that muscles can alternately rest and come into motion in cases of this kind.

Much is to be ascribed to prejudice, originating with the man continually in quest of variety, rather than with the horse, who, consulting only his own ease, seems quite unconscious of Hogarth's 'line of beauty." We apprehend that opinions on this point, based upon careless general observations, would have little value. Whether, as Mahan supposes, a horse can walk to the top of a hill more casily than he can trot to it on a larger and gentler slope, depends very