AGRICULTURAL. EXTENSION IN BELGIUM. 441 



meeting, as outside attractions, such as ball games, and especially 

 cock fights, absolutely prevent the acquisition of an audience. 



About 4,000 courses and conferences for adults have been held 

 during the past 25 years in this Province, and 15,000 personal letters 

 of instruction have been Written by the supervisors. The personal 

 visits and consultations which the supervisors make to farmers and 

 their fields or buildings are usually the result of invitations which 

 follow previous conversations or correspondence with the cultivators, 

 and they are for (1) to permit the supervisors to judge of the local 

 conditions of the soil, live stock, material, and crops, in order to give 

 intelligent directions; and (2) to put the supervisors in a position to 

 be better judges of the requirements of agricultural instruction of 

 which they have the direction. Certain farmers among the more 

 intelligent class do not hesitate to invite the supervisors to their 

 farms, but it often happens that the supervisors ought to make the 

 proposal themselves, especially when it is wise to make a verification 

 or authentication. 



About 320 demonstration and experiment fields have been estab- 

 lished in the Province during the past 25 years. 



PROVINCE OF LIEGE. 



"^Miile the number of horses in the Province of Liege has decreased 

 4,408 head during the past 25 years, the number of cows has increased 

 50,782, and hogs 75,480 head. This great increase in the number of 

 cows and hogs and the decrease in number of horses was occasioned 

 by the depreciation in the value of cereals, which in certain years 

 amounted to 50 per cent of what it w^as in 1885, thus resulting in 

 the conversion of cereal lands into pasture. But while the price of 

 cereals has decreased, the amount raised on a given area has greatly 

 increased, as has likewise potatoes. Sugar beets have decreased in 

 the number of pounds produced per acre, but they have been greatly 

 improved in the percentage of sugar they produce, it having been 

 increased from 12 per cent to 15| and 16^ per cent. 



The census of 1880 showed that 6,820 acres were devoted to fruit, 

 while to-day 16,638 are in orchards, and the value of this land has 

 greatly increased. 



The great progress in agriculture realized during the past 25 years 

 is seen, not only by an increase in production per hectare and by an 

 increase in the number of cows and hogs, but also by the more general 

 use of improved machines, which have immensely reduced the cost 

 of production and rendered manual labor less necessary and laborious. 



Twenty demonstration and experiment fields are established each 

 year in the Province, and about 6,000 conferences have been held 

 during the past 25 years. Written replies for information have 



