Mr. Middlelon on Flemish Agriculture.^ 



224 



large casks placed upon wheels ; it is 

 then diawTi to the fields and showered 

 over the roots of their plants. And 

 though the Flemings do not genei'ally 

 cultivate plants in rows, this dressing 

 may be most advantageously poured 

 upon the roots of potatoes, turnips, 

 cabbages, beans, peas, and row culture 

 in general. This liquor is most liighly 

 and justly esteemed in Flanders, and 

 it is applied on every soil and to most 

 of their crops. We have one farming 

 gardener near Kenuington Common, 

 Surrey, who has used putrid liquor 

 many years, with eminent success, 

 although much less perfectly prepared 

 than they do these things in Flanders ; 

 as his reservoir is only a small pond, 

 •which receives foul water drains, and 

 that is rendered more putrid by the 

 addition of night soil. 



Another point of great excellence is 

 their ploughing all their soil as soon as 

 possible after the removal of eveiy crop. 

 This practice has the two-fold advan- 

 tage of ploughing with the least possi- 

 ble draught and destroying weeds. 

 The first ploughing after liarvest is also 

 wisely done veiy thin, and immediately 

 harrowed to pieces. After a short in- 

 terval, the same land is ploughed a 

 second time, about two inches deeper, 

 and it is again harrowed to pieces. 

 And soon afterwards it is, sometimes, 

 ploughed a third time, two or three 

 inches deeper than the second, and is 

 again harrowed to pieces. Such root 

 weeds as can be seen are picked up by 

 hand, and carried to a dung-hill, after 

 every harrowing. And in this clean or 

 excellent state the soil is either planted 

 with rape from a seed-bed, or sown with 

 a crop to stand the winter, (such as 

 wheat, winter barley, tares, &c.) or it 

 is left during the winter in readiness 

 for a ciop in the spring. 



Their rotation of crops is not so 

 good as several that are known to the 

 best agriculturists in England; but 

 one of their good peculiarities is to 

 trench their land to- the depth of six- 

 teen inches, or more, either by spades 

 and hand labour, or by two ploughs 

 following each other in the same track, 



the first. This is do 

 rotation. 



Their horses, cows and sheep, are 

 kept in stables, sheds and yards, during 

 the whole year, where they are soiled 

 •with clover, tares, or grass in summer, 

 and great use is made of carrots in 

 winter, to which they might to add 



[April I, 



but the second at a greater depth than 

 This is done once in every 



turnips, both Swedish and the common. 

 They have a most excellent practice 

 of giving no water to their cattle, with- 

 out its being previously converted into 

 a soup by the addition of tlie meal of 

 barley, oats, rye or beans, to wliich is 

 frequently added ground oil-cake. And 

 its temperature is always moderated by 

 being placed in the stables, either in 

 pails or cisterns, twelve hours, or more, 

 before the cattle areallowed to drink it. 

 Anolher good practice is, their 

 draught horses are all subjected to a 

 strict diet ; namely, each horse is 

 allowed from the middle of November 

 to the middle of February (three 

 months) for every day of twenty-four 

 hours, 4 lbs. of beans, or 7 'bs. of oats ; 

 30 lbs. of bean-straw and 20 lbs. of the 

 straw of wheat, rye, barley or oats ; all 

 the straw is cut into chaff and served 

 to the horses with white soup in lieu of 

 water. From the middle of February 

 to the middle of May (three months) 

 each horse is allowed. S lbs. of beans, 

 or 14 lbs. of oats; together with 25 lbs. 

 of beau-straw, and 25 lbs. of white corn- 

 straw, cliafted ; inchuling all the natu- 

 ral chaff of corn, and to tuese are added 

 white soup as before. During the 

 summer, or from the middle of May to 

 the middle of September (four months) 

 green clover, or meadow grass (to 

 Avhicli ought to be added tares, lucern, 

 sainfoin, &c.) 80 lbs., 4 lbs. of beans, 

 together with straw cut to chaff and 

 white soup as before. From the middle 

 of September to the middle of Novem- 

 ber (two months) carrots 28 lbs., or 

 clover hay 28 lbs., along with 50 lbs. of 

 the cut straw of beans and white com, 

 as aforesaid : together with 4 lbs. of 

 beans, or 7 lbs. of oats, and white soup 

 in lieu of water. In this manner all 

 the straw and haulm of the Flemish 

 farmers are made to contribute towards 

 the sustenance of their cattle, and to 

 the improvement of their dung-hills. 

 This is an excellent system, which the 

 writer of this paper has advocated in 

 opposition to Mr. Arthur Young and 

 Sir John Sinclair, for many years. 



The foregoing diet being abstracted 

 and collected together for the whole 

 year, amounts at English prices, to 



60 bushels of oats (or 38 of beans) 



at 3s. is - - - f . 9 



24 bushels of oats in meal, for 



white soup, at 4s. is - - 4 16 

 8 bushels of beans, at 5s- is - 2 

 30bushelsofcarrot8, at2s. is - 3 

 2 loads of clover hay (iu hay 



and green) at 4 gs- ia .880 



Brought . 



