1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



863 



somewhat enriched the soil, ami the fihros of the 

 roots have friven a certain detrrce of compactness. 

 It. may now he ploughed and sown with buck- 

 wheat, or even with rye vvilhoul manure. JJy 

 the timo this is reaped some manure may have 

 been collected, and a rejrular course of cropping 

 may begin. As soon as clover and potatoes ena- 

 ble the Ihrmer to keep cows and make manure, 

 the improvement goes on rapidly; in a few years 

 the soil underiroes a complete change: it becomes 

 mellow and retentive of moisture, and enriched by 

 the vegetable matter ailbrded by the decomposi- 

 tion ol' the roots of clover and other plants. It is 

 sur[)rising that so few sheep should be kept on 

 these new farms. Sheep folded would do good 

 by their tread, as well as their manure, but (he 

 management and lijeding of sheep is a part of 

 husbandry in which the Flemings, with very few 

 exceptions, are decidedly as much behind our 

 hirht land farmers, as they are before us in the 

 feeding of their cows, and preparation and econo- 

 my of manure. 



If about twenty small cart-loads of dung can be 

 brought on each acre of the newly trenched 

 ground, the progress is much more rapid. Pota- 

 toes are then the first crop, and generally give a 

 good return. The same quantity of dung is re- 

 quired for the next crop, which is rye, in which 

 clover is sown in the succeeding spring; and a 

 small portion is sown with carrots, of which they 

 have a white sort, which is very productive and 

 large in good ground, and which, even in this poor 

 soil, gives a tolerable supply ol"food to the cows in 

 winter. Should the clover fail, which sometimes 

 happens, the ground is ploughed in spring and 

 sown with oats and clover again. But if the clo- 

 ver comes up well amongst the rye stubble, it is 

 cut twice, after liaving been dressed with Dutch 

 ashes early iti spring. It is mostly consumed in 

 the green state. The clover-ley is manured with 

 ten cart-loads of dung to the acre, and rye sown 

 again, but not clover. After the rye comes buck- 

 wheat, without any manure ; then potatoes again, 

 manured as at first, and the same rotation of crops 

 follows. It is (ound that the poor land gradually 

 improves at each rotation from the quantity of 

 dung used : and, as this is essential, it will be 

 easily seen that without water-carriage the im- 

 provement could not go on : for the necessary 

 quantity of dung could never be brought to the 

 ground by land- carriage through tlie deep sandy 

 roads, which arc mere tracks. 



For want of sulTicient manure, broom-seed is 

 pometimes sown with the rye after the clover. 

 The rye is heaped and the broom continues in the 

 ground two years longer. It is then cut for fuel. 

 The green tops are sometimes used lor litter for 

 the cows, and thus converted into manure. It is 

 also occasionally ploughed in, when young aiid 

 green, to enrich the land. Oats, clover, and 

 broom are occasionally sown together. The oats 

 are reaped the first year; the clover and young 

 broom-tops the next, and the broom cut in the 

 third. This is a curious practice, and its advan- 

 tage appears rather problematical. All these va- 

 rious methods of brincing poor sands into cultiva- 

 tion show that no device is omitted, which inge- 

 nuity can suggest, to supply the want of manure. 



After the land has been gradually brought into 

 a good state, and is cultivated in a regular man- 

 ner, there appears much less difference between 



the soils which have been originally good, and 

 those which have been made so by labor and in- 

 dustry. At heast the crops in both appear more 

 no;uly alike at harvest, than is the case in soils of 

 diiierent qualities in other countries. This is a 

 great proof of the excellency of the Flemish sys- 

 tem ; lor it shows that the land is in a constant 

 slate of improvement, and that the deficiency of 

 the soil is compensated by greater attention to til- 

 lage and manuring; especially the latter. The 

 maxim of the Flemish fiirmer is, that " without 

 manure there is no corn — without cattle there is 

 no manure — and without green crops and roots 

 cattle cannot be kept." Every farmer calculates 

 how much manure he requires for his land every 

 year. If it can be bought at a reasonable rate, 

 he never grudges the outlay. If it cannot be pur- 

 chased, it must be made on the farm. A portion 

 of land must be devoted to feed stock, which will 

 make sufficient manure lor the remainder : for he 

 thinks it belter to keep half the farm only in pro- 

 ductive crops well manured, than double the 

 amount of acres sown on badly prepared land. 

 Hence also he does not reckon what the value 

 would be of the food given to the cattle, if sold in 

 the market, but hovv much labor it costs him to 

 raise if, and what will be the increase of his crops 

 from t'le manure collected. The land is never al- 

 lowed to be idle, so long as the season will permit 

 any thing to grow. If it is not slirred by the 

 plough and harrows to clear it of weeds, some 

 useful crop or other is growing in it. Hence the 

 practice of sowing different seeds amongst grow- 

 ing crops, such as clover and carrots amongst 

 corn or fiax ; and those which grow rapidly be- 

 tween the reaping of one crop and the sowing of 

 another, such as spurrey or turnips, immediately 

 after the rye is cut, to be taken off before wheat 

 sowing. These crops seem sometimes scarcely 

 worth the labor of ploughing and sowing ; but the 

 ploughing is useful to the next crop, so that the 

 seed and sowing are the only expense ; and while 

 a useful crop is growing, vx^eeds are kept down. 

 These are the general jjrinciples of Flemish hus- 

 bandry. 



The collection and application of manure is (he 

 great secret of Flemish husbandry. Upon their 

 poor light soils nothing could be raised without an 

 abundance of manure. It is, consequently, an 

 object of minute attention to the Flemish farmer 

 to collect as much as possible, and to apply it in 

 the most advantageous manner. For this purpose 

 the dung of the different domestic animals is ge- 

 nerally kept separate, especially that of cows, 

 from that of horses; the former being thought bet- 

 ter lor dry sandy soils, the latter lor colder loams 

 and clays. They look upon pigs' dung as being 

 cold and inferior, adoptiriir in this respect the opi- 

 nions of the ancients. We think differently; but 

 this may be easily accounted for. The Flemisli 

 store pigs are fed in the most miserable manner, 

 and are merely kept alive on weeds taken from 

 the fields, or by very scanty grazing in rough pas- 

 lures. Wc need not be surprised, therefore, that 

 I heir dung is poor. The cows are better fed, and 

 their dung is consequently richer. Cow dung is 

 thought to last longer in the soil, and its effects on 

 the second crop are more conspicuous than that of 

 horse dung, which eiinmlates more and is sooner 

 effete. Sheep, which are so important to the light- 



