414 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTUKE. 



A SKETCH OF BELGIAN HUSBANDRY. 



The farms iu Flanders are small, the average 

 size being not more than fifty imperial acres. 

 Some are lieKJ on lease, others are not. The 

 terms vaiy from tlirte to fifteen years, some 

 multiple of three as far as fifteen beinu; the dura- 

 lion of a lease. In some the tenants have it in 

 their power to quit at the end of eveiy third 

 year, while the landlord cannot put him d".ay 

 till his lease is out. It is impo.ssible to say what 

 the average rent of the farms is ; but so far as I 

 could ascertain, it may be stated at 3()s. the im- 

 periai acre, for the best soils, exclusive of bur- 

 dens, which are generally one-fifth of the rent. 



The fanners of Belgium are a hard-working 

 class of men — in the habit of laboring their 

 farms, and generally ignorant of every other 

 subject but their profession. But in it truly they 

 show rare sagacity and experience ; and though 

 unaided by, and almost despising, the light of 

 science, they discover in some parts of their sj-s- 

 tem of Agriculture a perfection to which science 

 has never yet guided the farmers of this or any 

 other country. When Ave look back to the an- 

 cient grandeur of Belgium, when its cities were 

 the marts and factories of Europe, and consider 

 the consequent increase of population in a coun- 

 trj- naturally unproductive, we will discover a 

 sufficient stimulus to excite the energies of a 

 people gifted by Nature with an indomitable 

 perseverance and Ul!v^earied industry. This 

 dispo.sition, as well as its effects — their Agi-icul- 

 ture — has been handed down to the present 

 generation of farmers, and still manifests itself 

 in many operations which the negligent fanner 

 would consider unprofitable, or, at least super- 

 fluous; and it is from this praiseworthy industiy 

 that Belgium, comparatively a poor country, is 

 considered by strangers as unrivaled in the si- 

 lubrity of its climate and the fertility of its soil, 

 and tliat the great part of the kingdom is pre- 

 vented from returning to its original barrenness. 



The number of servants who live on the fann 

 throughout the year may l;c .stated at six to the 

 fifty acres, and these are paid as follows : — The 

 Tuen who perform the v^'ork of plowmen and la- 

 borers receive 10s. a month with their meat, 

 which t]i£ farmers value at 6d. or 7d. a day, 

 thus making the full wages of a nian equal to 

 i!,5s. a month or £l5 aA-ear. Their food consists 

 of boiled milk and bread for breakfast, .soup or 

 butter-milk and bread and butter for dinner, 

 with potatoes and pork five times a week, and 

 bread and milk for supper. The soup used is 

 composed, according to Mr. Radclitf, of butter- 

 milk boiled and thickened with flour or rye- 

 bread. 7<ntatoe9, salt fish, various vesretahles, and 

 eggs. They work from daylight till it is nearly 

 dark at this sea.son of the year, which, after de 

 ducting the hours of rest, will be about ten 

 hours a day. In summer it is longer. The 

 women, who are hired to live on the farm, re- 

 ceive about 4s. Gd. of wages less in the year 

 thaji the }ncn. It may be observed that almost 

 all the funn<,'rs take the same food as their si?r- 

 vants. The day-laborers, who are onlj' emploj-- 

 ed at certain seasons, such as for weeding the 

 crops and engaging iu the operations peculiar 

 to Bax culture, receive 7d. and 8d. a day, with 

 their meat; and boys and girls have od. witli ! 



their meat. Ar. ordinary working-man will live 

 very comforwbly in a town in the south of Bel- 

 gium, paying .£1.5 for victuals and £2 for the 

 rent of one room for the whole year. 



The farm-buildings are generally built in the 

 form of a .-^.quare, and consist of dwelling-house, 

 byre, barn, stable, .servants' sleeping-room, and 

 cart-shed. The middle of the area included in 

 the square is several feet below the level of the 

 hou.ses, and is admirably adapted for saving ma 

 nure. The greatest cleanness prevails in every 

 dejjartment of the steading. 



The strength of horses kept on a farm is at the 

 rate of a pair of hor.ses to the fifty acres. And 

 ♦be number of animals .supported altogether on 

 the farm far exceeds anything we are accustom- 

 ed to n this country. This, indeed, is one of the 

 secrets of their farming ; and we have no hesi- 

 tation in saying that, in this particular, they ex- 

 cel the farming of any countiy with which we 

 are acquainted. The keep of a hor.se is estima- 

 ted at 20d. a day. It is generally fed during 

 the winter on oats, straw, beans and hay ; and 

 in summer on cut grass. The horses are small, 

 but compact, handsome, with beautiful action, 

 and high-spirited. As no attention has been 

 paid to the improving of their breed of cowe, 

 they are not distinguished for any excellences. 

 They answer the purpose of the dairy, for wliich 

 they are principally kept : they are generally 

 black and white in color. After being for 

 some years in the dairy, they are fattened or sold 

 lean to the butcher, who is generally feeder as 

 well as butcher. The most of the beef useA in 

 Belgium is that of these old cows. They have 

 a practice by which they ensure the regular 

 feeding of the calves, which they consider es- 

 sential to quick fattening. Immediately after 

 they have got their usual quantity of milk, bas- 

 kets are put on their mouths, to prevent their 

 eating anything in the interval between the 

 feeding times. Few sheep are kept, and these 

 are of the worst description. 



The fields are small, and are di\nded merely 

 by ditches. There is no such thing as a hedge 

 oi- dyke enclosing a field. These, from the pe- 

 culiar management of the stock on their farms, 

 are quite unuecessarj-. But where thorns are 

 used as fences, as around nurseries and gardens, 

 the settings are put very closely together ; and, 

 after they have sprouted up a certain length. 

 sticks are run along horizontally, and the young 

 shoots are tied to these, so that in a short time, 

 from the intertwining of the shoots, uov^ grown 

 into branches, the fence becomes quite impene- 

 trable. Under-drainage is never practiced. 

 Much of the soil does not require it: but to fa- 

 cilitate the drying of the fields, and to draw off 

 the surface-water from the plants, a spading of 

 earth is taken out from every fun-ow, and scat- 

 tered over the ridge, so that, in a heavy shower, 

 the rain-water fiiids a ready course to the ditches 

 which skirt the fields. 



One of the points in which the Flemings show 

 their skill of management is the attention tbev 

 pay to the working of the soil. Unless the so;! 

 has been tlioroughly pulverized by repeated 

 plowings and harrowings, they forbear from 

 sowing iu;v crop. To ti^ie, in particular, among 



