FLAG. 



FLANDERS. 



in fee against his late tenant, who had held un- 

 der a term for twenty-one years a farm, con- 

 sisting of a messuage and lands, outhouses 

 and barns, &c., and who at the case reserved, 

 stated that during the term, and about fifteen 

 years before its expiration, he erected at his 

 own expense a beasthouse, carpenter's shop, a 

 fuel house, a cart-house, a pump-house, and a 

 fold-yard. The buildings were of brick and 

 mortar, and tiled, and the foundations of them 

 were about afoot and a half deep in the ground. 

 The carpenter's shop was closed in, and the 

 other buildings were open to the front, and 

 supported by brick pillars. The fold-yard wall 

 was of brick and mortar, and its foundation was in 

 the ground. The tenant previous to the expira- 

 tion of his lease, pulled down the erections, 

 dug up the foundations, and carried away the 

 materials, leaving the premises in the same state as 

 when he entered upon them. The case further 

 stated these erections were necessary and conve- 

 nient for the operation of the farm ; and the ques- 

 tion for the opinion of the court was whether 

 the tenant had a right to take away those erec- 

 tions 1 Upon a full consideration, we are all 

 Of opinion that he had not a right to take away 

 those erections." 



Without any special agreement, a tenant 

 cannot remove a border of box planted by 

 himself; neither can ordinary tenants remove 

 fruit trees, though planted by themselves, but 

 nurserymen may. If the freehold is sold with- 

 out any stipulation about the fixtures, they pass 

 with the land. Neither can the fixtures be 

 taken in execution by the sheriff. Ranges and 

 ovens are fixtures. But a pump erected by a 

 tenant, and so fixed as to be removable without 

 injury to the freehold, may be taken away by 

 him at the expiration of his term, as being an 

 article of domestic use or convenience. A 

 conservatory on a brick foundation, affixed to 

 and communicating with rooms in a dwelling- 

 house by windows and doors cannot be re- 

 moved by the tenant, even if he erected them. 



FLAG, THE WATER; or FLEUR-DE-LIS. 

 See IRIS. 



FLAG, THE SWEET. See AROMATIC REED 

 (Calamus aromaticus). 



FLAG. A term sometimes applied to the 

 turf, or surface of the ground, which is pared 

 off for burning. It also signifies a large flat 

 paving stone, and the furrow-slice of ley lands, 

 when under the plough. See PARING and 

 BURNING. 



FLAIL (Lat. flagellum). A wooden imple- 

 ment for thrashing corn by hand. It anciently 

 was truly a whip, and sometimes had two or 

 more lashes : the modern flail consists of the 

 handle or handstaff, which the labourer holds 

 in his hand, and uses as a lever, to raise up 

 and bring down the swiple, or part which strikes 

 the corn, and beats out the grain and chaff from 

 the straw. The swiple is joined to the hand-staff 

 by the caplins or couplings, which are thongs 

 of untanned leather, and sometimes the skins 

 of eels or of other fish. These thongs are 

 passed through holes in the ends of the handle 

 and swiple, and made fast by being sewed to- 

 gether. The whip-flail was in use among the 

 Romans, though the prevailing mode of sepa- 

 rating corn from straw among the nations of 

 482 



antiquity was by treading it out with cattle in 

 the open air. (See AGRICULTURE.) In the 

 colder parts of Europe, this could never have 

 been generally the case, for obvious reasons ; 

 and hence the flail was the universal thrashing 

 implement till the introduction of the thrashing 

 machine, which is now taking the place of the 

 flail in all countries where capitalists engage in 

 farming. See THRASHING MACHINE. 



FLANDERS, THE AGRICULTURE OF. The 

 mode of tillage adopted by the cultivators of 

 Flanders has long and beneficially engaged 

 the attention of the British farmer; who, what 

 ever may be his superiority to the Fleming in 

 most respects, yet in some particular instances 

 has learnt, and in others (such as in the careful 

 husbanding and preparation of manure, the 

 succession of crops, the deepening of the soil, 

 &c., ) may still profitably imitate the practices 

 of the small industrious cultivators of Flan- 

 ders. The best report of the modern agricul- 

 ture of the Flemish farmers is that drawn up 

 for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful 

 Knowledge, by the Rev. W. Rham, from which, 

 and from his paper in the Journ. of Roy. Agr. 

 Soc. of Eng. vol. ii. the chief facts of this arti- 

 cle are obtained. The climate of Flanders 

 pretty closely resembles that of Kent and Es- 

 sex in England : it is, however, rather warmer 

 in summer, and the snow lies longer in winter. 

 The soil is various ; there are extensive dis- 

 tricts of sand which are brought into cultiva- 

 tion by dressing them with mud. In propor- 

 tion to the quantity of the mud, which is a very 

 fine clay, a portion of decayed shells and or- 

 ganic matter, the soil is more or less fertile ; 

 and when the mud enters into it in considera- 

 ble proportion, it forms a rich compact loam. 

 In many places there are alternate narrow 

 strata of sand and loam, which, being mixed 

 together, form a very productive soil. A small 

 portion of carbonate of lime produced from the 

 decomposition of sea shells, is found in the mud 

 when it is analyzed; but there is no chalk, nor 

 marl, in any portion of this coast. 



The industry of the tenants of these sands is 

 proverbial. The poor sandy heaths which 

 have been converted into productive farms, 

 evince their indefatigable industry and perse- 

 verance. The sand in the Campine can be 

 compared to nothing but the sands on the sea- 

 shore, which they probably were originally. It 

 is highly interesting to follow step by step, the 

 progress of improvement. Here you see a 

 cottage and rude cow-shed, erected on a spot 

 of the most unpromising aspect. The loose 

 white sand, blown into irregular mounds, ic 

 merely kept together by the roots of the heath ; 

 a small spot only is levelled, and surrounded 

 by a ditch. Part of this is covered with youn^ 

 broom ; another part is covered with potatoes ; 

 and perhaps a small patch of diminutive clover 

 may show itself; but there is a heap of dung 

 and compost forming. The urine of the cow 

 is collected in a small tank, or, perhaps, in a 

 cask sunk in the earth ; and this is the nucleus 

 from which, in a few years, a little farm will 

 spread around. 



Of their use of liquid manure, I shall hereafter, 

 under that head, have occasion to speak. Their 

 implements of husbandry are much inferior 



