OSS 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



Produce of the Flemish /armer r Piodnce of the En -Ihh farmer, 



from one acre, for 12 yearn. 

 Wheat, 32 bushels per 



acre, - 4 crops 



Barley, 60 bushels per 



acre, - 4 do. 



Flax, hemp, cole-seed 



and potntops, 4 do. 



Roots and vegetables 



for the food of cattle, 10 do. 



In 12 years. 



24 crops 



accoidina to ihc Norfolk 



course, fo' the same period : 

 Wheat, 24 bushelji per 



acre, - 3 crops 



Barley, 32 bushels per 



acre, - 3 do. 



Turnips, - 3 do. 



Clover, - 3 do. 



In 12 years. 



13 crops 



This immense (llflerehce in favor of the produce 

 of Flanders, does not arise, asmifiht hp. supposed, 

 from its possessing a better natural soil, or a milder 

 climate than England, hut entirely from the dif- 

 ferent mode of cultivation pursued in these two 



countries. At no very distant period, the fields of 

 Flanders, now so productive, we^e little else but 

 loose sand and (Travel, whereas, the soil of En;j- I Flemish husbandry, merits farther amplification, 



quire, every forty years, a sum of money equal to 

 the soil ; to say this, appears, to other than Flem- 

 ish readers, to repeat a tissue of fables.* The 

 less informed, attribute this uninterrupted succes- 

 sion of harvests lo the inexhaustible fertility of 

 the soil ; but intellitjent and well informed travel- 

 lers attribute it, on the contrary, and with the 

 best reason, to the indefatiirable industry of the 

 inhabitants, and to a hig'hiy improved mode of 

 culture, of the details of which they are them- 

 selves ifTiiorant, and which beside, from their com- 

 plication, and the great variety of the productions 

 of the soil, require a profound study, of many 

 years duration, to which few of them have either 

 the inclination or the leisure to apply." 



This correct, though " bird's eye" view, of 



land was always naturally fertile, and in part, lies i" "^der to furnish distinct data to the intelligent 



under a more southerly parallel than Flanders 



The rich, abundant, and healthy crops obtained 

 by the Flemish farmers, may be traced to the 

 following causes : 



1. The abundance and judicious application of 

 manure. 2. Digcring all the lands on their farms 

 with the spade, every six or every three years. 

 3. The comj)lete extirpation of weeds and noxi- 

 ous roots. 4. Regular and repeated hoeing. 5. 

 A careful choice, and alternation of grain and 

 seeds for sowing. 6. An improved rotation of 

 crops. 



" The whole secret, ("observes Vanderstraeten,) 

 respectincT the superiority of Flemish agriculture, 

 consists in this : the farmers procure plenty of 

 food for their cattle — food which, excepting clover, 

 is raised from the same lands, which have already 

 yielded their crops of grain, &c. They keep the 

 greatest possible number of cattle, feed them in 

 the stables plentifully, and render their food pala- 

 table. They collect the greatest possible quanti- 

 ty of manure, oi which they preserve the fertiliz- 

 ing salts by a suitable process of fermenlationi 

 They weed their grounds thoroughly and repeat- 

 edly. They totally extirpate noxious plants and 

 roots, every six or every three years, by digging 

 all the lands on their respective farms — an opera- 

 tion by which they revert to the surface a stratum 

 of li-esh soil, that for three or for six years has 

 been absorbing the salts of manure as they filtra- 

 ted to the bottom of the roots ; a stratum of soil 

 whirh has produced no crop during the snme pe 



and enterprising agriculturist. My subsequent 

 communications will be directed to that subject. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



Geo. Houston. 

 iVew York, Jpril 18, 1820. 



FLEMISH IIUSBAKDRY. KO. 2. 



Sir — I shall now, as promised, give some de- 

 tails, I'especting the Flemish mode of cultivation. 



1. Manure. 



A Fleming spares no costf nor labor to obtain 

 this necessary article. What his domestic ar- 

 rangements do not produce, he supplies in the 

 neighboring towns and villages; but it is chiefly 

 upon his cattle that he relies. Of these, he rears 

 an immense number : five times more in propor- 

 tion, than is done by the English farmer, by 

 which he obtains at least triple the quantity of" 

 dung. He is equally careflil to preserve the li- 

 qmd portions of this manure, which contain the 

 greatest proportion of fertilizing juices. For 

 that purpose, the stalls and stables where the cat- 

 tle are kept, are paved with a cement impervious 

 to water ; a precaution, by which no part of the 

 urine of the animals is lost ; while dung pits, to 

 which there is a communication by little channels 

 from the cattle-stalls and privies, are formed and 



*ln Flanders, wheat yields 20; rye, 26; barley, 26 : 

 and oats, 40, for one. Wheat fields only the fifth 

 rank in value in the harvest of Flanders. In England, 



riod. They, moreover, dress their grounds to the ' wheat never yields more, on an average, than 10 or 11 



precise point of perfect pulverization. These are 

 inestimable advantages, which cannot be obtained 

 bv any plough whatever: hence, the drift of the 

 Flemish adage — "Never to let the naked ground 

 lie open to the sun in summer for more than three 

 days." 



" In truth, to say that there exists a vast prov- 

 ince, in which the price of lands has been quad- 

 rupled within fifty years, and which is neither 



for one ; barley, something less than ten to one ; and 

 oats only between eight and nine for one. In some 

 highly ameliorated farms in the connty of Suffolk, Ar- 

 thur Young reports a produce of 36 bushels of wheat, 

 and sixty-four bushels of barley to the acre ; and that 

 in the county of Kent, soils of middling quality, 

 ameliorated, yield per acre, fifty-two bushels of wheat, 

 and the same quantity of barley. But in Flanders, 

 there are soils which yield inuch more than this — 

 namely, seventy-two bushels of wheat, 120 of barley. 



placed under a more favorable climate, nor enjoys j 128 of beans, and seventy-two of cole-seed. These, 



a greater fertiliiy of soil than England ; from 

 which fiillows in general have been banished 

 from time immemorial ; in which the greater part 

 of the lands produce in nine years at least fifteen 

 harvests, of which, those of grain, yield one year 

 with another, as high as thirty-two bushels of 

 wheat per acre, those of barley, sixty bushels, 

 and those of oats, ninety bushels ; and where the 

 borders of the fields are planted with trees in such 

 numbers, that by their sale the proprietors ac- 



however, are extreme cases, which do not affect the 

 general question of comparative growths ; while, 

 however, they show that the amelioration of land, in 

 any country, is calculated greatly to increase its pro- 

 ductiveness. 



t " It is within my knowledge, (says Vanderstrae- 

 ten,) " that villages of 6,000 acres of surface expend, 

 in the purchase of dung and other manures, more 

 than Ji 26,000 sterling, besides the enormous quantity 

 of dung from their own cattle. This expense is im- 

 mense, but it is returned with the greatest usury. 



