Spirit of tl)t (ffnro^Jfan 2I13. |3rts0. 



HUSBANDRY IN BELGItTM. 



There is no subject connected with Belgium about 

 which 60 much misapprehension prevails as its soil. 

 We are accustomed to associate fine crops and superior 

 fanning with a fertile soil. And people generally, 

 hearing of the great crops produced here, conclude 

 without further inouiry that it is blessed with a fine 

 soil and a liner climate — and the yearly, but not 

 exaggerated account of theheavy crops, brought home 

 by tourists, some of whom have compared the cutting 

 of a field of wheat to the slicing of a plum cake, tend 

 above all, to increase the mistake already abroad. 

 The general character of the soil in the western 

 provinces of Belgium, where the most perfect system 

 of culture is carried on, is lightneas; which includes 

 all stages of fertility from the arid sand to the sandy 

 loam. And though we find now much that really 

 appears excellent soil, we have sufficient reason for 

 supposing that it is not naturally rich, but has been 

 brought to its present state of fertility by the most 

 laborious cultivation, and there is not the least doubt, 

 that if the farmers were to withdraw their careful 

 attention from the soil, and the artificial treatment to 

 which it is at present subjected were in the least 

 relaxed, the broom and the fir would soon assert their 

 ancient domain. The general aspect of the country 

 is flat and open, not at all beautified by wood, and 

 interesting to none but the fanner. There are no 

 hedges, the fields being merely separated by ditches, 

 on the banks of which are planted trees, which arc 

 cut at different intervals of time, from every fourth 

 to every ninth year, according to the nature of the 

 kind. They are planted merely to supply the people 

 with firewood in those districts where other fuel is 

 scarce. All kinds of trees arc grown for this pur- 

 pose. Some parts of the country are more wooded, 

 which divests the scenery of that vapid tameness so 

 •peculiar to Belgium. But the cultivation of the 

 country is by no means neglected. The luxuriant 

 crops of rye, the healthy and equally dispersed drills 

 of wheat, and the neatness with which all the fields 

 are finished, give ample proof of the skill as well as 

 the industry of the farmers. Grains of every stage of 

 growth, and of every tint of green, flutter in the 

 breeze, and the solid masses of ripe blossoms roll in 

 the wind and form a beautiful contrast from their 

 saflron yellow, with the surrounding crops. But 

 there is still something wanting to animate this oth- 

 erwise beautiful prospect. JNo herds enliven the 

 landscape, no flocks send forth theirbleating, and the 

 milk maid's happy voice is mute. Profit, nol bearity, 

 is studied in Flanders. From (ihent to Antwerp we 

 pass through the most thickly populated district in 

 the world. There the soil is little better than sand, 

 the most laborious culture is practised, and the greatest 

 comparative average crops are raised of any district 

 in Europe. In many places the soil presents a 

 mottled appearance from the imperfect amalgamation 

 of the sand with the decayed vegetable matter. In 

 no part of the world, perhaps, is surli strict attention 

 paid to the tillage of each field; the consequence of 

 which is, that the crops produced on the barren sand 

 arc not inferior to what you will find on ordinary 

 soil. From the tliickiiess of the population they are 

 enabled to Im-n over almost all tlie soil with the 

 spade, which would render the tillage, one would 

 suppose, very tedious ; but the tediousnes is not felt 



from the smallness of the farms and the excessive 

 looseness of the soil. 



A man with no pressure but that from his hands 

 sinks the spade a foot into the ground ; and truly it 

 ought to be called gardening, rather than farming, 

 from the great neatness and excessive care bestowed 

 on every field. From the sandy nature of the soil, 

 they are enabled to finish off each field with all the 

 beauty of the flower-bed, while a border of uell 

 shorn grass, about ten feet wide surrounds the field, 

 the edge of which is most carefully paved, so that on 

 entering one of these fields, we are apt to suppose 

 that we are trespassing on the carefully swejit lawn 

 of some noble residence. It is the Flemish farmers 

 boast that the system of agriculture they practice has 

 been handed down unchanged to them from their 

 forefathers ; and this is the more to be wondered at, 

 when we consider that in no country have so many 

 and such sanguinary battles and wars been fought 

 and carried on as in Belgium. And yet the scenes 

 of these dreadful struggles, the tendency of which is 

 to retard all improvement, and to throw back to a 

 state of pristine civilization all the arts of peace, of 

 which agriculture is among the first, is also the seat 

 of an organized and exemplary system of husbandry. 

 Without attempting to account for this anomaly in 

 the history of the arts of peace in a nation, let us 

 proceed to inquire into some of the excellencies of 

 that system w'hieh has been preserved amid the havoc 

 of foreign and civil wars. The farms in Flanders 

 are small, the average size not being more than fifty 

 acres. Some are held on lease, others are not. and 

 the duration of the lease varies from 3 to 15 years. 

 The average rent for the best soils is not far from 

 $8 the acre, besides the burdens or taxes, which 

 usually amount to one-fifth the rent. The farmers 

 of Belgium are a hard working class of men, in the 

 habit of laboring on their farms, and generally igno- 

 rant of every other subject but their profession. But 

 in this they show rare sagacity and experience. .\nd 

 though unaided by, and almost despising, the light of 

 science, they discover in some parts of their system 

 of agriculture a perfection to which science has never 

 yet guided the farmers of this or any other country. 

 The number of laborers, who live on the farm through- 

 out the year is about six to the fifty acres, and they 

 receive usually 20 shillings a month with their food, 

 vvliich the farmer values at about Ji shilling a day, 

 making the full wages for a man equal to about i^l^ 

 a year. Their food consists of boiled milk and bread 

 for breakfast, soup or butter-milk and broad and 

 butter for dinner, with potatoes and moat five times 

 a week, and bread and milk for supper. They work 

 at the different seasons of the year from ten to four- 

 teen hours a day. The day-laborers, who are only 

 employed at certain seasons, receive from 14 to 18 

 cents a day, with their food, and the boys .and girls 

 10 to I'J cents. This must seem to us :i very low 

 rate of wages, but when we consider the corresjiond- 

 ing cheapness of the necessaries of life, and titat n 

 laboring man can live very comfortably in any town 

 in Belgium by paying one dollar a week for food and 

 20 cents for rent of a room, it alters the case materially. 

 The number of horses kept on a farm is at the rate 

 of n pair to fifty acres, and the number of animals 

 supported altogether on such a farm far exceeds any 

 thing we are accustomed to in this country. This, 

 indeed, as we shall hereafter see, is one of the secrets 

 of their farming. The keep of a horse is estimated 

 at thirty cents a day. Tney are fed during tlie 



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