1029 



FLANDERS. 



FLANDERS. 



1030 



the province a great number of dyeing establishments ; the largest 

 are at Courtrai, Bruges, Poperinghe, and Roulers. Woollen cloths 

 are made at Bruges, Ypres, and some other parts of the province. 

 The principal articles imported are groceries, dye-stuffs, metals, 

 timber, wine, and salt : the exports consist chiefly of linens, lace, 

 linseed-oil, rape-oil, gin, horned cattle, and grain. 



Towm. The capital of the province is Bruges, which is described 

 under its proper head. [BRUGES.] Of the other large towns, COTJRTRAI 

 and OSTEXDE are given in separate articles. Commines, or Comities, a 

 town on the left bank of tho Lys, which separates it from the French 

 town of the same name, has a population of about 3000, who manu- 

 facture ribands, thread, cotton handkerchiefs, and tobacco. The town 

 is 10 miles S.S.E. from Ypres. Dlrmv.de is 16 miles S.W. from Bruges, 

 on the right bank of the Yser. It contains a large gothic church, in 

 which is a stone rood-screen of beautiful workmanship, and an altar- 

 piece by Jordaens, representing the Adoration of the Magi : popu- 

 lation about 3000. Fm-nei is situated about 3 miles from the coast 

 of the North Sea, between Nieuport and Dunkerque. The town is 

 well built, but is unhealthily situated among marshes, and has 4600 

 inhabitants. The town-hall is a profusely ornamented gothic building. 

 There are some interesting remains of the abbey of St. Willebrod, 

 which escaped destruction in the French revolution. The town has 

 a cathedral, two churches, an hospital, a college, and several convents. 

 A very important linen market is held in Furnes, and there is also a 

 brisk trade in agricultural produce. It waa formerly fortified, but 

 the fortifications were demolished after the peace of 1815. Four 

 great lines of canal meet at Furnes, whence one extends through 

 Dunkerque to Calais, another through Bergues to St.-0mer, another 

 through Nieuport to Bruges and Ghent, and another to Dixmude and 

 Ypres. Ixijhem, 8 miles by railway N. by W. from Courtrai, has 

 manufactures of linen, cotton and woollen stuffs, tape, and hats : 

 population about 9000. Menin, or Meenen, a fortified frontier town, 

 is situated on the left bank of the Lys, by which it is separated from 

 France, and is 30 miles S. from Bruges. It has a considerable trade 

 in agricultural produce, and there are manufactures of linen, lace, 

 woollen goods, tobacco, and soap, besides oil-mills, breweries, and salt- 

 refineries : population about 8000. Nieuport, or Nieuwport, a fortified 

 port, little frequented except by fishermen, is 6 miles N.W. from 

 Furnes. The chief public buildings are a town-hall, a handsome 

 church, two hospitals, and an orphan asylum. The population, num- 

 bering about 3400, are engaged chiefly in fishing, ropemaking, and 

 building small coasting vessels. Poperingen, or Poperinghe, a flourish- 

 ing town, is 26 miles S. by W. from Ostend. The town has two 

 parish churches, and five other churches which belong to convents. 

 Coarse woollens, lace, and linen are manufactured, and there are seve- 

 ral oil-mills. A large trade is carried on in hops, which are grown in 

 the neighbourhood of fine quality and in great abundance : population 

 about 10,500. Router*, or Roustelaer, is situated on the Mandel, a 

 small affluent of the Lys, 18 miles S. from Bruges. The inhabitants 

 are chiefly occupied in the manufacture and bleaching of linen. Flax 

 is largely cultivated in the neighbourhood. The pasture land in the 

 vicinity is also very rich, ami many fine cattle are reared : population 

 above 10,000. Tkielt is 15 miles S. by E. from Bruges, on the road 

 from Dixmude to Bruges. It is a well-built town, with many good 

 modern houses, two handsome churches, establishments for bleaching 

 linen and flax, several breweries, and flourishing manufactures 

 of woollens and linens, gloves, starch, tobacco, &c. It has an 

 important flax and linen market : population about 12,600. 

 Thovrout is situated on the railroad from Bruges to Courtrai, and 

 distant 11 miles from the former. It is a well-built town, with a 

 population of about 8500, who have a considerable trade in linen, 

 flax, and linseed. Wameton, or Waerton, is situated on the left 

 bank of the Lys, 6 miles S.S.E. from Ypres, and has a population of 

 about 6000, who manufacture beer, starch, chocolate, and salt. 

 Wenoicl: (pronounced and sometimes written Vervick), is also situated 

 on the left bank of the Lys, 10 miles by railway S.W. from Courtrai, 

 and has a population of about 5700. Ypree, or Yperen, is a strongly 

 fortified town, situated in a fertile plain on the banks of the Yperlee, 

 in 50 50' N. lat., 2 53' E. long., at a distance of about 20 miles by 

 railway W. from Courtrai, and has a population of above 16,000. 

 The situation is somewhat unhealthy on account of the surrounding 

 marshes, but less so than formerly, as these have been partially 

 drained. It is however a flourishing town, and has manufactures of 

 lace, linen, serges, and other woollens, cotton, thread, and silk, and 

 there are many tanneries, oil-mills, dye-houses, and bleaching-grounds. 

 Thread ia a staple manufacture of the town. The kind of linen called 

 ' diaper ' was formerly made here, and the name is said to be a cor- 

 ruption or mispronunciation of <V Yperen. The town-house is a gothic 

 building of large size, with a tower in the centre, and there is a large 

 gothic cathedral, an exchange, and a royal college. Jansen, the founder 

 of the sect called from him Jansenists, was bishop of Ypres ; he 

 died in 1683, and was buried in the choir : population, 15,750. In 

 the 14th century Ypres had a population of 200,000, and was an 

 important manufacturing town. At that period there were 4000 

 looms constantly at work in the town. The town originally sprang 

 up about a fortress built by Baudouin III., count of Flanders, in 

 A.D. 960. In 1388, Philippe the Bold, duke of Burgundy, enlarged 

 the town and surrounded it with walla. The French in the time of 



Louis XIV. held it for a long time, and greatly strengthened the for- 

 tifications. Under the French empire Ypres was the capital of the 

 department of Lys, which coincided with West Flanders. The history 

 of the town presents a long series of sieges. 



Agriculture. Flanders was remarkable for the cultivation of its 

 soil long before any other country north of the Alps or Pyrenees. 

 This was the natural consequence of its commercial prosperity ; and 

 although very little change has taken place, and very few improve- 

 ments have been introduced for more than a century, it still ranks 

 very high amongst agricultural countries. 



It is not the richness of the soil which is the cause of the abundant 

 harvests which the Flemish peasants reap, but their indefatigable 

 industry. The greater part of the laud in Flanders is naturally poor ; 

 and in extensive districts, which now have the appearance of the 

 greatest richness at harvest-time, the original soil was once little 

 better than the blowing sands which are met with in the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea. Neither is it a genial climate which brings forward 

 the fruits of the earth in abundance ; for the climate is inferior to 

 that of France or the southern parts of Germany ; and if there are 

 not so many or such sudden changes of weather as in Great Britain or 

 Ireland, the winters are longer and more severe. The average tem- 

 perature in summer may be somewhat higher than in the counties 

 which lie in the same parallels in England, and the time of harvest 

 somewhat earlier ; but this does not make a difference of more than 

 a week in the maturity of every kind of grain. The winters are more 

 severe in ordinary years, and the snow lies longer on the ground. 



The soil may be divided into two classes : the first consists of the 

 alluvial clay-loams near the coast ; the second, of various sands and 

 light loams which are found in the interior. The most fertile is that 

 of the low lands which have been reclaimed from the sea by embank- 

 ments : it is chiefly composed of a muddy deposit mixed with frag- 

 ments of marine shells and fine sea-sand. These lands are called 

 ' polders ; ' and their great natural fertility causes them to be culti- 

 vated with less art and industry than those lands which are much 

 inferior. 



The cultivation in the polders has nothing remarkable to entitle it 

 to much notice. Barley seems peculiarly suited to the soil, and very 

 heavy crops of this grain are obtained ; especially in those polders 

 which, having been more lately embanked, are not much exhausted. 

 Eight and even ten quarters per acre have been obtained with little 

 or no manure ; and the second crop of barley sown in succession has 

 often been the best. Oats are also very productive and of good quality, 

 from ten to twelve quarters per acre. But these heavy crops soon 

 reduce the natural fertility, and after a few years the produce is 

 greatly diminished, and the land requires to be recruited by manure 

 and cleansed by fallows. The extent of the farms in the polders is 

 from 100 to 250 acres. The farmers in general are in good circum- 

 stances, and the buildings substantial. The air of the polders is 

 unhealthy, and all those who are not inured to the climate are subject 

 to fevers and agues. On this account land lets at a lower rate, and the 

 wages of labour are higher in the polders than in more healthy districts. 



In the interior of East and West Flanders the soil varies consi- 

 derably, but the principal part is of a sandy nature. The sand and a 

 heavier loam are found much intermixed. These layers are not of 

 great thickness ; and the accidental circumstance of the washing 

 away of the sand in some places, and the depositions from the rivers 

 in others, easily accounts for this variety. Some of the elevations, 

 which are nowhere considerable, consist of a very poor sand, and 

 suggest the idea of their having once been the sands of the sea blown 

 into hills, as is observable on the coast. These hills have gradually 

 been cultivated and improved, and only a few remain covered with 

 heath or wood. 



At a distance from large towns it would be impossible to obtain 

 the requisite quantity of manure, and accordingly it is made on the 

 farm. The cattle are the principal source of the supply ; but every 

 expedient is resorted to in order to increase the quantity and improve 

 the quality. Every kind of vegetable or animal matter is carefully 

 collected, and made to undergo the putrefactive fermentation by being 

 mixed with others already partially decomposed. Nothing excites 

 heat and putrefaction more than urine when it ia poured over sub- 

 stances aubject to decomposition. In every farm-yard there is a 

 vaulted cistern or pit into which the objects to be acted upon can be 

 thrown, and into which the urine or drainings of the dunghill can 

 be made to flow : by frequently moving and stirring the mass, the 

 decomposition goes on rapidly, heat is evolved, and the fibres and 

 dried juices of vegetables are 'decomposed, and become soluble in 

 water, in which state their effect on vegetation is greatest. This 

 manure is generally ploughed into land in an active state of fermen- 

 tation. 



In the tillage of the land the Flemings use few and very simple 

 instruments. The common plough for light lands is a small light 

 plough without wheels, and drawn by one or two horses. It is the 

 most perfect plough for light sands, acting like a shovel at the fore 

 part of the turn-furrow, which is concave, and completely turns over 

 the soil. In the stiffer soils the turn-wrest plough, with two wheels, 

 is sometimes used, made much smaller and lighter than the heavy 

 Walloon plough. 



An instrument peculiarly Flemish is the 'tralneau.' This is a 



