110 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tural obstacles is seen to be complete. And it in a 

 triumph of no ordinary kind, for examining the fields 

 and gardens which stretch for miles away from the 

 dunes with their rich burdens of produce, it is difficult 

 to believe that they have been freed from so ungrateful 

 a soil. Yet from a wide extent of country the soil of 

 which has been the lightest and poorest of sand, a large 

 amount of garden and farm produce is raised and sent 

 off to Paris and other large towns. As before hinted 

 at, the grand agent in producing such fertility is manure, 

 more especially the liquid manure. Evidences certainly 

 not the most odoriferous meet you at every step you 

 take in this interesting district. Every garden and 

 farm has its tiny tank, and carts (torrneaux) meet you 

 constantly bearing to the country the treasures of the 

 towns — treasures — the value of which we — that 

 is the English — somehow will not admit. The 

 tanks are generally placed in a corner of the garden 

 lined with bricks, and covered with a simple thatched 

 triangular-shaped roof. The ends are generally closed, 

 and an aperture made in one through which the manure 

 is taken by means of a long handled-ladle. A wooden 

 spout is often placed at an aperture near the road, by 

 which the manure is passed from the carts to the in- 

 terior of the tank. In passing along we saw in many 

 fields the liquid manure being applied to the land. It 

 is taken in a barrel provided with iron hasps at the 

 side, through which poles are passed, and which enable 

 the men to carry it. The manure is distributed over 

 the field by means of the long-handled ladle, and its 

 distribution is remarkably uniform. The operation is 

 not an odorous one certainly, but its effects are soon 

 observable in the surpassing richness of the products, 

 and the rapid amelioration of the soil, bringing it from 

 a state of sterile sand to that of a rich looking loam. 



In dividing the gardens, which are very numerous 

 on the Ostend side of Dunkirke, straw is much used to 

 make fences. Stakes are placed vertically in the ground 

 at a distance of from eight to twelve and fourteen feet, 

 between these strips are placed horizontally, and the 

 straw placed vertically, between them being interlaced 

 as it were within the horizontal strips or battens. The 

 whole makes a neat and secure fence, taking up very 

 little space, for its thickness does not exceed, we should 

 think, three inches. Outhouses, &c., &c., are also made 

 with the walls of straw, and very neat they look, and 

 astonishingly strong : they form warm shelter sheds for 

 cattle. 



Further from the town where the farm lands begin, 

 fences disappear ; indeed, one of the peculiarities of 

 Flanders, both French Flanders and the east and west 

 proviuccs of Flanders in Belgium, is the absence of 

 fences. The fields are generally divided in the district 

 we ai'e now writing about by stone marks so small as to 

 be scarcely seen. The ditches and water- ways are 

 numerous. The trees in looking across the landscape 

 appear to be very numerous, and convey the idea of a 

 well wooded country. But the trees are rarely, indeed 

 we may say they are never placed in the fields of 

 Flanders, space for cultivation is too valuable for that, 

 but along the road, in many cases forming fine avenues 

 stretching along for miles in length. Small clumps are 

 also now and then met with ; and as the orchards are 

 pretty numerous the landscape by no means lacks the 

 light and shade and artistic repose which trees invariably 

 give. Indeed, although flat, as far as the eye can reach, 

 the country is a pleasant one to look upon, the farm- 

 house and buildings studding the fields here and there 

 are generally in their form and outline picturesque in 

 the extreme : their high-peaked rough thatched roofs, 

 and the numerous wind-mills stand out in fine relief 

 against clear blue sky beyond. 



Beautifully farmed as the fields are in the neighbour- 



hood of Dunkirke, they scarcely, to our thinking, pre- 

 sented the garden-like appearance and the high finish of 

 the farms of Belgium Flanders, such as we have seen in 

 the neighbourhood of Bruges, or of Courtrai, or in the 

 Pay de Waes between Ghent and Antwerp. But never- 

 theless the cultivation is of a high order, the ploughing 

 executed in the finest style, ditches and the edges of 

 fields carefully trimmed up, and every evidence given 

 of the careful attention which the husbandman devotes 

 to his fields. The crops usually grown are wheat, rye, 

 oats, clover, beetroot, potatoes, and beans. Cassel, a 

 beautifully situated town on the road to Lille, is cele- 

 brated for its crops of beans. 



The farms generally are of small extent in the dis- 

 trict; thereare, we have been informed on good authority, 

 1,270 farms of less than 12 acres, 666 from 12 to 25 

 acres, upwards of 700 from 25 to 50 acres, nearly 800 

 from 50 to lUO acres, about 150 from 100 to 250, and 

 not quite 30 of more than 250 acres. The general 

 average price of land is 3,700 francs per hectare (a hec- 

 tare is 22 acres nearly), and is let for 97 francs the hec- 

 tare. Pastures rent at 116 francs. Grass land sells at 

 4,600 francs the hectare. The yield per hectare of 

 wheat is 22 hectolitres ; of oats, 42 hectolitres ; of bar- 

 ley, 44 hectolitres ; and of rye, 20 hectolitres. The 

 wages of a man labourer are 212 i'rancs per annum, of 

 a woman labourer 110 francs. Weeding is executed at 

 the cost of 13 francs per hectare. 



Drainage is on the increase, 7,000 hectares have been 

 drained in the district at a cost of 150 francs the hec- 

 tare, and the results have been very satisfactory. 



Guano is used to some extent, but torteaux or oil- 

 cakes are most used. 



Dairies are considered profitable, and dairy-farm- 

 ing is an important branch of industry in the dis- 

 trict. 



Great attention is now being and has for long been 

 paid to the rearing of fine cattle. Last month the Agri- 

 cultural Society of Dunkirk held a meeting, at which 

 was exhibited a number of fat milk cows= Twenty-two 

 were exhibited, all of them very fine animals. It is to 

 be noted that none of them were specially reared for 

 exhibition. The animal which took the first prize 

 weighed 798 kilogrammes (a kilo, is 2| pounds of 

 English weight), and it furnished of meat 466, and 92 

 of fat. The second prize animal weighed 859 kilos., 

 and gave 472 of meat, and 143 of fat. The third animal 

 weighed 820 kilos., and gave 449 of meat, and 102 of 

 fat. The fourth weighed 763 kilos., and gave 412 of 

 meat and 75 of fat. 



It may interest some of our readers to know that the 

 Agricultural Society of Dunkirk intend holding an ex- 

 position of agricultural and horticultural products, of 

 machines and implements, and of stock, in the month 

 of September of this year, from the 6th to the 16th, in- 

 clusive. Strangers are invited to exhibit. Application 

 to be made to M. Harcourt, Rue Emmery, No. 12, 

 Dunkirk, before the 15th of August. 



As the object of these exhibitions is to give as much 

 practical information as possible, the exhibitors of agri- 

 cultural products — only those of the harvest of 1860 

 admitted — are required to give the following information 

 along with the articles exhibited : — 1st, the locality and 

 farm where produced. 2nd, the nature of the soil, and 

 the extent of the ground where the product has been 

 raised. 3rd, the amount per hectare. 4th, the kind 

 and quantity of manure employed per hectare. 6th, its 

 selling price. Twelve medals will be given for the 

 cereals, of each of which 8 kilos, must be exhibited, 

 and two litres winnowed and cleaned for market. For 

 forage plants 5 medals will be given, and for roots 2. 

 For the textile and oleaginous plants 5 medals. For the 

 industrial plants (hops, tobacco, chicory, sugar, beet, 



