296 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



The Belgian Campine* 



The first region that J shall refer to is the Belgian Campine, 

 a large tract of sandy land in the vicinity of Antwerp. In 

 wandering over this region one sees much that reminds him of 

 the plains and barrens of Southern New Jersey. The bushy 

 oaks, the scrubby pines, sandy or gravelly soil, and many plants 

 of the heath family which cover the surface, are strikingly 

 similar to those of Jersey. Here and there in this region are 

 small houses of the Flemish farmers who often have a hard 

 struggle in squeezing a livelihood out of the soil. Most of these 

 peasants plant forests of pine with short rotation from which 

 they get humus for their compost heaps and fuel-wood. It is 

 not uncommon to see a woman and a dog in harness tugging 

 together at a load of manure, or a man in the field plowing 

 with a cow which is usually at the same time milked. The 

 house and barn of the peasant are combined, and the manure- 

 pile, which is close to the door, is his most precious posses- 

 sion. Now and then green manuring is practiced, and a field 

 of yellow lupine * is quite as beautiful as a field of crimson 

 clover. 



Much that I have to say here in reference to the Belgian 

 Campine was suggested by a little book entitled " La Culture 

 du Pin Sylvestre en Campine," by L' Abbe G. Smets, professor 

 of agriculture at Hasselt, in Belgium. To this I have added 

 my own impressions and have compared the two wherever possi- 

 ble. A large number of the Belgian Scotch-pine (Pinus syl- 

 vestris) plantations leave much to be desired. The trees are 

 stunted "and grow to a height of only a few meters. The volume 

 growth rapidly attains its maximum, and even at the age of 

 twenty years some of the forests begin to die. Parasites are 

 abundant, f There are few old trees ; the quality of the wood 

 is poor and the best stands, according to Smets, yield small profits. 



*I have endeavored to grow this lupine {Lupinus luted) in South Jersey from seed bought in Hol- 

 land, but it failed to flourish both on good and bad soil, owing probably to the dryness of the summer. 

 Our purple lupine (Lupinus perennis) is worthy a trial on very poor, sandy soil. 



fin the pine forests of Northern France and Belgium a wood-eating insect known to entomologists 

 as Hylesinus pini perdo attacks the pine in swarms. This little beetle bores into the young branches 

 and tunnels along the medullary canals. The wind snaps off the damaged twigs, and now, in some pine 

 districts, the forest floor is fairly strewn with the debris. The insect develops very rapidly under the 

 bark of felled trees, and it is found that barking the logs immediately after they fall under the axe pre- 

 vents the spread of the pest. 



