AGRICULTURAL, EXTENSION IN BELGIUM. 439 



eagerly sought by the farmers on market days, the supervisor having 

 previously announced in the agricultural press his intention of being 

 at a certain market on a given day. In the Province of East Flan- 

 ders the farmers are thus able to consult with the supervisors each 

 week in the villages near their homes, besides having the privilege of 

 attending near-l)y conferences, of which each supervisor holds nine 

 each month. About 1,500 experiment and demonstration fields have 

 been organized, with the most beneficial results. There have also 

 been organized GOO courses in agi'iculture for adults, consisting of 

 about 7,000 sessions. Like the conferences these courses in the begin- 

 ning were attended by a large number of people out of pure curiosity. 

 Wlien this was satisfied, the attendance decreased until an interested 

 audience was secured, but of late the interest has increased to such an 

 extent that the attendance is too large to handle with the best results. 

 About a dozen courses designed especially for women on the farm 

 have been given. Courses are also held in horticulture, in market 

 gardening, in floriculture, and occasionally in apiculture, aviculture, 

 and farriery. 



Extension supervisors have had charge of some courses in agri- 

 culture in some of the schools in the Province, and since the minis- 

 terial decree of the 19th of April, 1899, making a special financial 

 grant to those schools attaining a certain standard in agricultural 

 instruction, the board of inspectors has included a supervisor who 

 also acts in an advisory capacity. 



About two-thirds of the numerous agricultural societies, associa- 

 tions, clubs, and syndicates of all kinds have been organized as a 

 result of the efforts of the supervisors, and these organizations are 

 prosperous and doing a great Avork. Syndicates for the improvement 

 of live stock, of which there are 150 in the Province of East Flanders, 

 are subsidized by the Government. Competitive exhibits of various 

 agricultural products, live stock, machines, etc., have been held, and 

 awards have also been granted for improvements in farms as a 

 whole, and in pastures, orchards, and stables as a stimulus to further 

 effort. 



PROVINCE OF HAINAUT. 



During the past 25 years the products of the farm have increased 

 as a rule about 30 per cent. This increase is partly due to the divi- 

 sion of some of the larger farms into a number of small ones, and to 

 more intensive cultivation. 



Commercial fertilizers were first used in this Province some 45 

 years ago by the sugar-beet manufacturers, but the general farmers 

 did not make use of them, largely on account of ignorance of their 

 value, their liability to adulteration, and the hostility of certain land 

 proprietors who introduced into their leases clauses prohibiting their 



