1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



winttT on oats, straw, beans and hay, and in summer 

 on cut grass. They are small, but compact, of 

 beautiful action and high-spirited. These sleek 

 Flemish horses were for ages- hold in high esteem in 

 England and other parts of Europe, Their breed of 

 cow s is not distinguished by any peculiar excellence, 

 as no attention has \yecn paid to improving it. They 

 have a practice by whiih they ensure the regular 

 feeding of the calves, wliich is considered by them 

 est-cntial to quick fnttcning. This is, immediately 

 after they have got their usual quantity of milk, to 

 put Laskets over thoir mouths, to prevent their eating 

 anything in the interval between the. feeding times. 

 Very few sheep are kept, and these are of tlic worst 

 desi-ription. Their fields are small, and merely 

 divided by ditches. Such a thing as a hedge or a 

 fence enclosing a field is never seen. These are 

 unnecessary from the peculiar management of their 

 stock, Under-drainago is rarely practised. Indeed 

 the nature of the soil is such as not to require it. 

 But to promote the drying of the fields, and to draw 

 off the surface-water from the plants, a spading of 

 earth is taken fiom eacli furrow, and scattered over 

 the ridge, k> that in a heavy shower, the rain-water 

 finds a ready course to the ditch which skirts the 

 fields. The attention which is paid to the working 

 of the soil is one of the points in which they show 

 their skill of management. They forbear from sowing 

 any crop until the soil is thoroughly pulverized by 

 repeated plowings and harrowings, and frequently 

 resort to the spade to give additional depth to the 

 furrow, and better to prepare the soil for the reception 

 of the seed. The plows used by Belgium farmers 

 are so simple and rude in their construction as 

 scarcely to deserve the name. And in mosf parts of 

 the country the spade is much more used for agricul- 

 tural purposes. Such is the abundance and cheapness 

 of labor, and the comparative scarcity of land, that 

 it is common to weed out fields of grain and especially 

 of flax, with as much nicety as a gardner in this 

 country would weed a bed of carrots or onions. At 

 certain seasons 3'ou will see rows of women in the 

 fields creeping on their knees among the young 

 crops and picking out with the greatest care the 

 injurious weeds and grasses. This speaks well for 

 the industry of the people, and could only be practiced 

 in a community proverbial for indomitable patience 

 and perseverance. 



We now come to a subject which explains the 

 grand secret of the success of the Flemish farmer in 

 raising such large crops, and in transforming a 

 country naturally unfruitful into what may justly be 

 called the ''garden of Kiirope." This is ^(secojioi/i?/ 

 in suving, and skill ill applying manures. His first 

 object and great aim is to save every thing which can 

 possibly be converted into a fertilizer, to put back 

 upon the land, and supply the constant drain of the 

 elements of bread and meat which his large crops 

 require. Jlis ashes-cart and urine-barrels traverse 

 every street in the town, and every bye-way in the 

 country, to collect these valuable fertilizers to 

 spread over his land. I have already mentioned the 

 large number of animals, compared with the extent 

 of the farms. This is an important feature in his 

 system of husbandry, as they are tept tied up all the 

 year round, and the utmost care taken that none of 

 the manure is wasted. It is in this management that 

 the fanners of Belgium excel those of every other 

 country, and by this system they are able to raise 

 larger crops than any other body of farmers in the 



world, .\shes are extensively used as a top-dressing, 

 especially for clover. And they set so high a value, 

 and depend so much upon them for the success of 

 their clover-crop, that it is a current saying that, "he 

 w ho buys ashes for his clover-crop piys nothing ; Ijut 

 he who does it not, ;>«'/s double." On this all-im- 

 portant subject, the saving andapplication of manure.', 

 the fanners of our own country can learn a lesson 

 from those of Belgium, and we may perhaps make 

 it the subject of a future article, Suflice it now to 

 say that this art, combined with unwearied industry 

 and perse veranne, has enabled them to convert, a 

 countrv naturally poor into one of unrivalled fertility. 

 —Washington, Dee,, 1849, W. 



CULTIVATION OF CARROTS III FRANCE. 



The skill of French farmers in cultivating root crops 

 is well known. In no country in tlie world is the 

 sugar beet so extensively and successfully grown, 

 both for extracting the sugar, and for feeding to 

 stocl;. The carrot seems lately to have attracted 

 much attention among the most experienced farmers, 

 and I give below their most approved method of cul- 

 tivating this valuable root, by which they often gel 

 a crop of 12 to 1600 bushels to tlie acre. The vari- 

 ety mostly raised is the large tihite, green lopped, 

 which grow a good deal out of the ground. They 

 are prefered to the orange from their producing so 

 much larger crops, although they are acknowledged 

 to be less nutritious. The experience of the best 

 French farmers is, that three Ions of carrots are 

 worth as much as one ton of good hay, either for 

 keeping horses or milch-cows through the winter, or 

 for fattening cattle. Now, estiniatii:g the crop of an 

 acre of carrots at 1000 bushels, and by proper culti- 

 vation it can be made far to exceed this, you have 

 what is equivalent to at least tin tons of good haj, 

 which as the produce of one acre, well repays the 

 extra labor and trouble required. 



The analysis of this root, as well as the experience 

 of farmers, shows that 60 lbs., of carrots given to a 

 cow will supply as much of the materials to be elab- 

 orated into milk as 20 lbs. of clover hay. Both cattle 

 and horses eat them with avidity, and after a little 

 time appear to prefer them to any other kind of food. 

 These facts all recommend the more extensive culti- 

 vation of carrots by our farmers, and I translate the 

 following from the "Journal D' .Agriculture Pratique,'' 

 as the most approved method of preparing the land 

 &.C., now practiced in France. 



To ensure a large crop of carrots you must have a 

 deep well drained soil, sandy loam is best, with a 

 sub-soil through which the root ran easily penetrate, 

 it must be completely pulverized, and rendered light 

 and friable by the frequent use of the plow and har- 

 row; it must be well enriched with manure, and above 

 all be kept free from weeds. By observing these 

 conditions you can depend with some degree of cer- 

 tainty upon an abundant crop, and one that will 

 amply repay the labor expended. In the fall, soon 

 after harvest, select a suitable piece of land from your 

 wheat stubble, and give it a light plowing about the 

 last of October. Two or three weeks after give it a 

 second plowing still deeper, or what is bettor, go over 

 it with the sub-soil plow, having first spread evenly 

 over the land about one-half the quantity of manure 

 you intend for the piece. Let it remain in this state 

 during the winter, and the effect of the snow and frost 

 will be to pulverize and mellow the soil, rendered light 



