160 Rural Economy of tJte Netherlands. 



in town as well as in country, is made of rye-flour. The crop of 

 rye exceeds 1,200,000 qrs., or two bushels six gallons per head. 

 After adding to these figures 515,625 qrs. of buckwheat, it still 

 appears that the crop of grain is insufficient to meet the con- 

 sumption, notwithstanding a large growth of potatoes. Conse- 

 quently the Low Countries import grain every year to the amount 

 of three- fourths of a million to a million quarters, of which the 

 greater part is rye. The agricultural exports consist chiefly of 

 cheese, butter, and other animal products. 



A century ago the Netherlands grew no wheat, and much less 

 rye than it produces now, but it had nevertheless become the 

 granary of Europe, although all the grain that flooded its ports 

 came from abroad. The merchants of Amsterdam had found it 

 easier and shorter to draw their supplies from the Baltic than 

 from the soil of their own country ; they sold corn to France and 

 to England, and even carried it as far as the Mediterranean. 

 When this commerce came to an end the cultivation of cereals 

 was developed ; it is constantly extending, and M. de Laveleye 

 affirms that the time will come when the country will be sup- 

 ported by its own produce. If so, it will be one of the most 

 striking revolutions in the rural economy of Europe. 



The farming on the seaboard is already unsurpassed even by 

 that of England, Belgium, Lombardy, or French Flanders. It is 

 the inland belt, with its immense tracts of uncultivated land, that 

 pulls down the average ; but an impetus has been given to im- 

 provement, and it cannot fail to be sustained. 



Since 1790 the population of the Low Countries has increased 

 50 per cent., whilst that of France has only increased 30 per 

 cent, in the same period. The improvement has been parti- 

 cularly marked in the district described as " sandy." The pos- 

 sibility of such progress could have been little anticipated at the 

 period when the Dutch lost the monopoly of naval transport ; but 

 agriculture has retrieved everything. Consequently there is no 

 country where rural economy is held in greater honour. There 

 are numerous agricultural associations ; the agricultural society 

 of the two provinces of Holland alone numbered 7000 members 

 in 1860. They talk of uniting the members of all these societies 

 in one powerful association, and hope to bring up the number to 

 40,000, fixing the annual subscription at 2s. At present, in- 

 stead of such a combination, there are agricultural meetings 

 Avhich assemble every year, sometimes in one province, some- 

 times in another, to which proprietors and farmers flock Irom all 

 parts of the kingdom. Many of these agricultural societies 

 publish a report of their labours. All questions touching upon 

 rural economy are handled in a number of journals, books, and 

 pamphlets, and all foreign works of importance are translated. 



