Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS 



73 



Subsect. 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Netherlands. 



429. The Netherlands and Holland, from the tenth to the fifteenth century, were the 

 great marts of manufactures and commerce in the west of Europe ; and, at the same 

 time, made distinguished progress in other arts. The particular causes which first 

 contributed to the advancement of agriculture are not exactly known at this distance of 

 time ; but it is certain that even in the thirteenth century the art was in an advanced 

 state, and, ever since, the culture of the Low Countries, both agricultural and horticul- 

 tural, has been looked up to by the rest of Europe. 



430. About the beginning of the seventeenth centunj. according to Harte, the Flemings 

 dealt more in the practice "of husbandly, than in publishing books upon the subject : so 

 that, questionless, their intention was to carry on a private lucrative trade without 

 instructing their neighbours ; and hence it happened, that whoever wanted to copy their 

 agriculture, was obliged to travel into their country, and make his own remarks ; as 

 Plattes, Hartlib, and Sir R. Weston actually did. 



431. To make a farm resemble a garden as nearly as possible was their principal 

 idea of husbandly. Such an excellent principle, at first setting out, led them of course to 

 undertake the culture of small estates only, which they kept free from weeds, continually 

 turning the ground, and manuring it plentifully and judiciously. Having thus brought 

 the soil to a just degree of cleanliness, health, and sweetness, they ventured chiefly 

 upon the culture of the more delicate grasses, as the surest means of acquiring wealth in 

 husbandry, upon a small scale, without the expense of keeping 

 many draught horses or servants. After a few years' experience, 

 they soon found that ten acres of the best vegetables for 

 feeding cattle, properly cultivated, would maintain a larger stock 

 of grazing animals, than forty acres of common farm grass : and 

 the vegetables they chiefly cultivated for tliis purpose were 

 lucerne, saintfoin, trefoils of most denominations, sweet fenu- 

 greek (Trigonella),buck and cow wheat (J/elampyrum pratense) 

 (fig. 54.), field turnips, and spurry (Spergula), by them called 

 Marian grass. 



432. The political secret of Flemish husbandry was, the letting 

 farms on improvement. Add to this, they discovered eight or 

 ten new sorts of manures. They were the first among the 

 moderns, who ploughed in living crops for the sake of fertilising 

 the earth, and confined their sheep at night in large sheds 

 built on purpose, whose floor was covered with sand, or earth, 

 &c, which the shepherd carted away every morning to the 

 compost -dunghill. Such was the chief mystery of the Flemish 

 husbandry. (Harte.) 



433. The present state of agriculture in the Netherlands corresponds entirely with 

 the outline given by Harte, and it has probably been in this state for nearly a thousand 

 years. The country has lately been visited with a view to its rural economy by Sir John 

 Sinclair, and minutely examined and ably depicted by the Rev. Thomas RadclifF. To^ 

 such British farmers as wish to receive a most valuable lecture on the importance ot 

 a proper frugality and economy in farming, as well as judicious modes of culture, we 

 would recommend the latter work ; all that we can do here, is to select from it the leading 

 features of Flemish farming. 



434. The climate of Flanders may be considered the same as that of Holland, and not 

 materially different from that of the low parts of the opposite coast of England. 



• 435. The surface of the country is every where flat, or very gently elevated, and some 

 extensive tracts have been recovered from the sea. The soil is for the most part poor, 

 generally sandy ; but in various parts of a loamy or clayey nature. " Flanders," Radchff 

 observes, "was in general believed to be a soil of extreme natural richness ; whereas, with 

 the exception of some few districts, it is precisely the reverse." He found the strongest 

 and best soil near Ostend ; and between Bruges and Ghent some of the worst, being little 

 better than a pure sand. 



436. From confowiding the Dutch Netherlands with the Flemish Netherlands, a good 

 deal of confusion in ideas has resulted. RadclifT, on arriving in Flanders, was informed 

 that, " with respect to culture, not only the English, but the French, confounded under 

 the general name of Brabant or Flanders, all the provinces of the Low Countries, however 

 different might be their modes of cultivation ; but that in Flanders itself might best be 

 seen, with what skill the farmer cultivates a bad soil [un sol ingrat), which he forces to 

 return to him, with usury, a produce that the richest and strongest lands of the neigh- 

 bouring provinces of Holland refuse to yield." The districts described as East and West 

 Flanders, are bounded on the east by Brabant and Hainault ; on the west by the German 

 Ocean ; on the north by the Sea of Zealand and the West Scheldt ; and on the south by 



