288 



The Agriculture of Belgium. 



Vol. XII. 



which on every side teems with the rankest 

 vegetation, was formerly a dreary waste, on 

 which a blade of grass scarcely grow. 



The flourishing condition of agriculture 

 in the low countries is unquestionably the 

 mainspring of their prosperity in manufac- 

 tures, which, in turn, by increasing the size 

 of towns and the demand for the riches of 

 the soil, give a stimulating activity to the 

 interchange of the commodities. To what 

 other cause can we attribute the extreme 

 multiplication of the human species, but the 

 development of these great sources of na- 

 tional prosperity 1 



Commerce and manufactures have multi- 

 plied objects of cultivation and increased the 

 demand tor them. The production of flax, 

 hemp, oily and colouring plants, are thus 

 made as profitable to the husbandman as the 

 production of breadstufFs and animal food, 

 and the field that grows the raw material of 

 the white veil which throws such bewitch- 

 ing charms around Flemish beauty, raises 

 the price of the cereal and culinary produc- 

 tions. The vascillating wants of trade may 

 disturb for a season, however, the just equi- 

 librium between production and consumption, 

 but eventually all the fruits of agricultural 

 industry become balanced. Thus the per- 

 fection of rural economy that arises from the 

 necessity of providing for the subsistence 

 and comfort of an increasing population, is 

 the glory of the country. But a stranger, 

 on crossing the Belgian frontier, would be 

 greatly surprised to find her rural districts 

 so strongly wedded to antiquated notions and 

 modes of husbandry. Even the introduction 

 of new plants, except the potatoe and some 

 colouring vegetables, has been of rare occur- 

 rence. It is true that the genius of Napo- 

 leon called into cultivation the sugar beet, 

 but it maybe said the improvements in agri- 

 cultural implements and seeds, for which 

 other countries are so justly celebrated, have 

 been slow to find their way into this region. 

 What a striking contrast do the American 

 and English farming utensils form, to the 

 Hainault scythe and Flemish plow. The 

 present King of Belgium has indeed intro- 

 duced many modern improvements in the 

 tillage of land and the breed of domestic 

 animals, yet, strange to say, the character- 

 istic tenacity with which the Belgians cling 

 to old established notions have retarded the 

 successful accomplishment of these govern- 

 mental ameliorations. 



But when we advert to the fact of the 

 enormous increase of the value of land and 

 buildings within the last ten years, the bene- 

 ficent supervision of the government is every 

 way worthy of praise and imitation. The 

 great council employed to watch the agricul- 



tural interests, together with a veterinary 

 and agricultural college, all stationed at the 

 capital, have elevated the standard of educa- 

 tion among the cultivators of the soil, and 

 called into successful activity an immense 

 amount of dormant wealth. 



This college is liberally patronized by the 

 State, and its chairs are filled by professors 

 who are men of science and great experience; 

 and under its auspices are delivered lectures 

 on chemistry, botany, and agriculture. So- 

 cieties iiave been formed in the various pro- 

 vinces for the promotion of rural industry; 

 but what has contributed in an eminent de- 

 gree to develope the capacities of the soil, is 

 the abolition of the feudal tenures, game 

 laws, and partial and onerous burdens on the 

 industrial classes. 



The law of equal succession, which has 

 subdivided France .into many small estates, 

 owned by frugal and temperate, but poor 

 proprietors, works admirably in Flanders. 

 The prospect of a rural retreat gives a sti- 

 mulus to the industry and economy of the 

 peasant. For here the cultivators of the soil 

 either hold it in fee, or are tenants on dura- 

 ble leases. What a contrast does it form to 

 that miserable melayer system of tillage that 

 blights the industry and enterprise of some 

 of the finest territories on the continent. 

 The operative classes are not content with 

 the bare necessaries of life; their tidy wives 

 and well clothed children show a vast supe- 

 riority over the starving and haggard popu- 

 lation of Ireland. Even a fondness for reli- 

 gious processions and superstitious pageantry 

 that connects Roman Catholicism with filth 

 and squalidness in Savoy and Italy, are not 

 the accompaniments of the rural populace of 

 the lotD countries. 



On the contrary, what traveller is not de- 

 lighted with a Flemish farmery, where order 

 and neatness dwell? Even in the stalls in 

 which the horse and ox are fed, you can be 

 seated and regale yourself with a cup of 

 coflee, or the smoke of the pipe, without 

 oifending the most sensitive nerves. Go and 

 ascend the lofty belfry which surmounts the 

 old Town-Hall at Bruges, and the panorama 

 to the north will fill your eye with a beauti- 

 ful succession of vividly verdant fields, varied 

 by masses nf wood, streams and picturesque 

 villages. But this very soil, if cultivated 

 like many parts of the world, would require 

 a heavy importation of human food to supply 

 the demand for the consumption of the peo- 

 ple. But Belgium exports an immense quan- 

 tity of her agricultural productions. Let us 

 examine this matter for a moment, and see 

 whether the true cause of this unsurpassed 

 affluence of husbandry, may not be traced 

 to the economy and industry of man. The 



