1 8^C)4» ^'' ^^^ Agriculture of the Netherlqndf^ 3 t j 



3. The ftrong clayey foil of Walloon-Brabant, and the northern 

 parts of Hainault. 



4. The foil of the middle region of Brabant, being a mixture 

 of fand and loam. 



5. The light fandy foil about Bruges. 



6. The rich loam of the diftrids of Ghent, Courtray, and Ma- 

 ritime Flanders. 



7. The artificial foil of the Pays de Waes. 



The Campiiie of Brabant. 



It is well known that the Campine of Brabant, which is the 

 northern part of that province, 'confifted originally of faiid co- 

 vered with heath, interfperfcd with lakes and extenfive marfhes, 

 and here and there with woods of fir. Tradition fuppofes it to 

 have been once a part of the fea. To this day, where cultiva- 

 tion has not exter.ded, the foil of itfelf produces nothing but 

 heath and hr. 'Jhe fand is of the mcll barren and haifii kind, 

 nor can it be rendered fertile, but by continued manuring. As 

 the property of this ground may be acquired for a trifle, many 

 have been the attempts of private perfons to bring tracts of it 

 into cultivation \ every means have been tried for that purpofe, 

 and government has given every pofiible encouragement to it. 

 But I have not heard of any one, however confiderable mighs 

 be his fortune, tlnat has fucceeded in it, and many have been 

 ruined by the project. What is cultivated in the Campine, is 

 owing to the religious houfes eftablifhed in it, efpecially to the 

 two great abbeys of Tongerloo and Everbode. Their uninter- 

 rupted duration for five or iix hundred years paft, and their in^ 

 defatigable induilry, have conquered thefe barren harfh fands, 

 and rendered many parts of them highly produdive. The me- 

 thod they follow is (imple and uniform 5 they never undertake 

 to cultivate more of this barren foil at a time than they have 

 fufhcien't manure for ; feldom more than five oT {i:L bunders in a 

 year j and when it is brought by labour and manuring into a 

 ilate capable of producing furhcient for a family to live on, it vi 

 let out to farmers on eafy terms, after having built them com- 

 fortable habitations. By thefe means, many extenfive trails of 

 the Campine are well cultivated, and covered with villages, well 

 built houfes, and churches. The abbey of Tongerloo alone fur- 

 nifhes about fevcnty of its members as curates to thefe parifnes, 

 all of whom owe their exiftence to that original ftock. I may 

 add here, and that from the undoubted teltimony of the hillo- 

 rians of the Low Countries, that the cultivation of the greatefl 

 part of thefe rich provinces, took its rife from the felfsame 

 means, eight hundred or a thoufand years back, when they v/er?? 

 in a manner one continued foreft. 



A 



