The Dutch by Richard E. Schultz Page A

purchased in Flanders. He also introduced a new type of plow that cut deeper into the soil and in turn increased yields. Despite the time farm families spent laboring on the new canal, the yield of the three harvests were spectacular. Brother Clover felt that good weather, quality seed and re-energized farmers deserved much of the credit. In the following years, when grain was planted where clover had grown the year before, the yield was even greater. There were some self inflicted food shortages of meat when farmers, who anticipated the new pasture land in the north, chose to increase their herds by slaughtering less livestock in December relying on other food to make it through winter. That winter, the new clover crop helped feed the rising population of cows, sheep and pigs and sometimes, when the buds were ground into flour, the people.
    In 1403 A.D., two years after work had begun, the canal was completed and fresh water flowed to the north where it was used to flood the former marshland. The new lands in the south were assigned and the vacated farm land distributed almost equally among neighbors, for agriculture had become more productive and most farmer families were motivated by the ever increasing yields. It took another two years for the flow of fresh water to wash away much of the salt deposited over time but the extra day of labor was suspended as nature and the clear water slowly desalinated the northern lands. In 1405 A.D., the extra day of labor was reinstated for the final act of reclamation: moving the dirt banked by the canal to give the northern land a coat of totally salt free soil. The new pasture land was distributed on the basis of merit, but Lord Derick retained two farm plots near the town which were divided into smaller parcels only large enough for a house and garden. These smaller homesteads would be distributed to retiring men-at-arms and others who grew old in service to the realm. Sir Wind lived five more years and during that time he constructed, with a relatively small workforce of hired men and vagrants, a system of drainage ditches which would later be crucial to the very survival of the land as the Little Ice Age brought wetter weather to all of Western Europe. The tremendous downfalls of colder rain would drain more quickly off the land because of these ditches. When Sir Wilhelm Wind died, Lord Derick ordered that he be buried in the cemetery previously reserved for only members of his own family.
    Brother Clover was also rewarded for his work. A choice farm was purchased from a widow without heirs and the title was deeded to the monk by Derick. The great Lord also used his influence and a good deal of gold to win a dispensation from the church, which allowed the now former monk to marry. Brother Clover’s grandchildren would become influential in the later part of the coming Protestant Reformation, but strangely none of his descendants would gain prominence in farming. His happy life on his own farm would be cut short ten years later when he again was called to attend to the new agricultural problems of the entire realm. However Brother Clover was not idle during those happy carefree years. He spent much of his time developing specific crops, which could be grown in the family gardens and yield guilders for his beloved farmers. He taught the people to grow better hemp and flax plants that had high value in the market places of the growing cities increasingly dominated by the budding shipbuilding and textile industries. He experimented and perfected the best way to grow dye plants like green weed, madden and also weld and woad. The colors green, red, yellow and blue enriched the lives of many farm families who were willing to extend extra efforts in their private gardens to grow the main ingredient in these dyes. Each year he personally supervised the collection of these plants at harvest time. The collective sale of these plants allowed farmers to receive an even greater reward from