The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having
been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his
own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and
intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the
Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk
something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in
use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved
artificial manures.

[Illustration: Zeeland Costumes.]

The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule
are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not
always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does
not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are
classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as
to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked
out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so
doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk,
butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two
last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the
'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called.

Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in
Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in
the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland
excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to
care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of
Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the