154 Rural Economy of the Netkerlands. 



are small (50 to 60 acres), and admirably kept. The land is 

 never allowed to rest. The picturesque costume of the peasants, 

 so often a subject for tlie artist, gives completeness to the unique 

 character of the country. 



In the Zealand coat-of-arms a lion is represented lifting 

 himself by a bold attempt above the waves that were ready to 

 engulf him. The motto is Luctor et emergo, " I strive and I rise 

 above water." The device is true in a double sense, both as 

 applied to the battle which these islands may be said to wage 

 against the ocean, and to the heroic struggle by which they estab- 

 lished their independence. Zealand cut through its dykes and 

 gloriously let in the flood rather than submit to the yoke of 

 Philip II. ; and it had afterwards to reconstruct, Avith great 

 labour, Avhat its patriotism had destroyed in one day. 



At the other extremity of the Low Countries is the province 

 of Groningen, the most northern of all. It is a republic estab- 

 lished and governed by a rural population, which is both wealthy 

 and enlightened. That aristocracy, which is the pride of rural 

 life in Britain, does not here exist. The only houses are those of 

 the farmers, and they are all alike. The buildings are un- 

 equalled. Between the road and the dwelling-house is the 

 garden planted with ornamental and exotic trees, with a lawn 

 laid out in flower-beds. At the background is the kitchen-garden 

 filled with fruit-trees and a variety of vegetables. The extent of 

 the facade, the numerous windows, the embroidered curtains, 

 the furniture in American oak, the piano, the capital library, all 

 proclaim easy circumstances and the habits which result there- 

 from. Behind the dwelling-house is a great building, lofty and 

 long like a church, containing stables, cattle-houses, barns, &c. ; 

 all under one roof. On entering you find barn-room sufficient 

 to store the crops of 250 acres, a collection of the most improved 

 tillage implements, sixty cows perhaps in one row, and twenty 

 splendid black horses, the pride of their owner. The cultivation 

 of arable land prevails as in Zealand, and it is as well under- 

 stood as in England. On the clays, a crop of 44 to 55 bushels 

 per acre of beans, 55 to QQ bushels of barley, and 77 to 88 

 bushels of oats is not uncommon. To give an idea of the number 

 of cattle reared, we may cite the parish of Aduard, with not 

 more than 2000 inhabitants, which exported in 1860, 389 

 milking cows, 420 fat oxen, 78 heifers, 86 horses, 1254 sheep, 

 add 700 cwts. of butter, and it does as much every year. 



How are we to account for these large returns, and this great 

 agricultural wealth ? M. de Laveleye finds an explanation in 

 the custom of tenancy, which obtains in the country, and which 

 is called the beklem-recit, or hereditary tenancy. It is the right 

 of permanent occupation, on payment of a fixed annual sum, 



