March 7th, 1873. Cloudy.

We had sent a telegraph to the German legation to announce that our Embassy would be leaving The Netherlands today, so an official from the German imperial household called Mr. Kanzki was dispatched by the emperor to meet us. He arrived in The Hague yesterday and rode with us in our railway-carriage this morning. When we reached the German border at Bentheim Station, we found Colonel von Wright, [Lieutenant-] Colonel Roerdansz and Mr. Kniffler, the former consul in Japan, waiting for us in the station building in full dress uniform. After alighting and exchanging greetings, we boarded together and the train pulled out, while people in the station crowded round to watch.

The next stretch of our journey took us through the borders of the province of Westphalia. The terrain here was generally flat, with gentle undulations, and the fields were planted with wheat and bordered by trees, interspersed with occasional thick woods of broad-leaf trees or conifers.

Advances in agriculture have led to the discovery of the principle of crop rotation, a system in which the crop is changed from one year to the next. Wheat might be sown in the first year, for example, and some variety of pulse (peas or broad beans) the year afterwards. In the third year hay may be planted, and the stubble left after mowing will be burnt. Sugar-beet or potatoes may be sown in the fourth year, and barley the year after that.