THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



325 



Should any of my countrymen come without ladies, I 

 advise them by all means to stop at Hazebrouck, half- 

 way between Dunkirk and Lille, and, leaving their 

 luggage there, hire a vehicle to convey them about seven 

 miles to the Trappist monastery at Mont a Carr. There 

 are about fifty of these extraordinary men who never 

 speak except to say " memento mori,^' never leave the 

 interior of the wills, and never touch animal food. It 

 is on the summit of a very high hill, and from it you 

 may see over the whole of Belgium, so far as the eye 

 will allow— a perfect panorama, as it is the only moun- 

 tain in Flanders. Thirteen small bed-rooms, very clean, 

 are always ready for strangers, who are welcome, gratis, 

 to food and lodging — bread and butter, vegetables, and 

 excellent beer, which they brew themselves, but taste 

 not. Any small gratuity the visitor may choose to leave 

 is received, but never demanded. They farm their own 

 land ; all the labourers, smith, carpenter, &c., being 

 monks : these, and four others, including the superior, 

 are allowed to speak. I went, and stayed one night, 

 and dined with four or five other strangers ; was shown 

 over all the premises, and spoke to the superior. Had 

 I not, I should have left with a wrong impression, that 

 all were ignorant bigots whose fanaticism could never 

 be adopted by educated men; but to my surprise I 

 found him evidently a gentleman, a handsome man of 

 forty, with talent in every feature ; mild in manner, but 

 without the least appearance of a dejected, broken- 

 hearted man, expiating some sin by a life of penance. 

 It is an extraordinary sight to an Englishman, and well 

 worth going from England on purpose. 



Belgium is more subdivided than France. The labour- 

 ers are many of them small farmers, or their sons; and 

 it is wonderful how they obtain a living on such patches 

 of land. Their cultivation and quality of land is about 

 the same as in Flanders — sugar and gin being their best 

 friends ; but the latter is at a i uinously low price — 4d. 

 per pint retail. 



They dig their potatoes, or rather pull them out with 

 a " dung-hook." Certainly it is quicker, and less 

 laborious, as the men do not stoop ; and I cannot see 

 it " pricks" the roots more, or so much as our three- 

 tined forks. I am an old potato grower, but I never 

 saw them so raised in England. 



All are careful at intervals (as soon as it is dry enough 

 to move) to collect the manure droppings on the grazed 

 land, and they remain in heaps till winter, then to be 

 carted in. It does not cost much, and must be good 

 economy, as, if allowed to remain, the grass is some 

 time growing through, and then not much relished by 

 the cattle ; and if it is spread, it soon is so acted on by 

 sun and wind that half its value must be lost. I read, 

 a fortnight ago, a letter, in The Field, from Grantley 

 Berkeley, in which he says : " The insects which breed 

 the wireworm deposit their larvae under thesedroppings." 

 This is something new; but, if correct, it is an additional 

 reason for their speedy removal. 



The carts here are much longer and narrower than 

 ours — the unimproved of centuries ago ; but they have 

 two appendages worthy of remark— they have some- 

 times long boards supported by eight or ten chains from 



the sides of the carts, and give somewhat the appearance 

 of immensely long barrels cut in two lengthways, and 

 one of these halves suspended under the vehicle : the 

 brick carts are always so ; indeed, it forms the body of 

 the cart, there being nothing o.v the piece of timber 

 forming the side — 'tis handy to load, and light and cheap, 

 as no mortices weaken the side?, and no fronts, nor side- 

 boards, nor top-rails are required. Of course, it will 

 not do for any load requiring to be " shot" out behind. 



The other matter is a substitute for a skid. The 

 screw they have here they cannot put on these " hanging 

 body" brick carts; they carry a long pole, which, on 

 arriving at a descent, they chain at one end to the back 

 end of the "side;" and bringing it under the nave 

 oxitside the wheel they chain the other end very tightly 

 to the shaft, thus giving it a pressure on the nave and 

 also on the outside edges of the tire both on back and 

 fore-part of the wheel. It acts well, but I should think 

 unsafe from liability to break ; but the poles look as if 

 they had been in use some time. This on a pinch might 

 be a useful hint to our carters with a heavy load and a 

 weak horse. 



As I have read in your paper of Nov. 1st a letter, 

 being the commencement of a series on " The Social 

 Condition of the Agricultural Labourer," perhaps you 

 will not think it out of place if I mention a thing or 

 two in connection with the labourer here, which we 

 have not, which we sadly want, and which form 

 here his greatest comforts — one is a cheap stove_ 

 It can be quickly moved and erected in any chimney, 

 and in a new house does not require the latter, 

 as they frequently have a vent for the smoke by 

 attaching six-inch pipes to one another with mortar 

 and to the wall (outside the house) with iron hoops, 

 saving bricks and giving more space in the room — 'tis 

 quickly lit, and quarter-of-a-peck of coals (or wood 

 will do as well) cooks the dinner, and a hot meal is pro- 

 duced at a very trifling expense of time or money — the 

 two most valuable considerations to the labourer. To 

 give some idea how small, I have had a basin of soup 

 and bread at a large (but cheap) restorants for one 

 penny ! and how much less cost when home-made ! 

 Vegetables they consume much more than us— mixing 

 many sorts in the soup, and very palatable they make 

 them. It must be wholesome, for more hearty working- 

 men I do not wish to see. The pot just fits in the cir- 

 cular opening, so that no heat is lost. 



It is a fact, that many of the wives of our men were 

 before marriage cooks or housemaids in respectable 

 families, and yet their household management is no 

 better for their previous acquaintance with kitchen 

 economy ; partly it is not their fault. Firing is cheaper 

 in England than here ; but 'tis a heavy item, because 

 we have not the means of making a little fire that will 

 boil a pot ; nor can the long time be spared which it 

 takes in England ; consequently, the most of their 

 meals are cold ones. Now, in our own class, who can 

 with pleasure, or pleasant looks, sit down to cold 

 mutton two days' running ! and what would be our 

 happy winter's evenings without the fire ! Then, can 

 we be surprised at the labourer's relish for the beer- 



