THE LAND SYSTEM OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND 435 



husbandry, the soil of Flanders does not yield a single crop without 

 being manured, a fact unique in Europe. 



If in a Flemish farm of twenty-five acres there were but five or 

 six acres of Irish soil, forming good natural pasture, it would be 

 worth one-third more. Not a blade of grass grows in Flanders 

 without manure. Irish soil might be bought to fertilise the soil of 

 the Fleming. The ideal, the dream, of the Flemish farmer is a 

 few acres of good grass. In Ireland nature supplies grass in 

 abundance. 



But it may be said that Flanders is well supplied with manure. 

 Doubtless it is ; but it is got only by returning to the earth all 

 that has been taken from it. The Flemish farmer -scrupulously 

 collects every atom of sewage from the towns ; he guards his 

 manure like a treasure, putting a roof over it to prevent the rain 

 and sunshine from spoiling it. He gathers mud from rivers and 

 canals, the excretions of animals along the high roads, and their 

 bones for conversion into phosphate. With cows' urine gathered 

 in tanks he waters turnips which would not come up without it ; 

 and he spends incredible sums in the purchase of guano and 

 artificial manures. 



True, it may be said, he must have money for that, and the 

 Irishman has none. But where does the Fleming's money come 

 from ? From his flax, colza, hops, and chicory crops which he 

 sells at the rate of from 600 to 1500 francs {24 to ;^6o) per 

 hectare ; and why cannot the Irishman go and do likewise } The 

 Irishman, it may be answered, must grow food for himself. But 

 so does the Fleming ; for, in fact, apart from the special crops 

 referred to, he grows enough to support -a population relatively 

 twice as large as that of Ireland. It has indeed been argued that 

 the special crops for which Flanders is famous would be out of 

 the question save for access to markets which are not within the 

 reach of the Irishman.^ But this argument seems to me to have 

 small validity. The chief market for the agricultural produce of 

 Belgium is England. And is London nearer to Ostend and 

 Antwerp than Dublin and Cork are to Liverpool and Manchester ? 

 Friesland and Holland send cattle and butter to England, and 



^ See Lord Dufferin on " Irish Tenure," p. 167. 



