FLANDERS HUSBANDRY. 



part of the food of men and boasts. 

 There is nothing pccuUar in the Flem- 

 ish mode of cultivating this useful 

 root. The sets are planted with a 

 blunt dibble : sometimes they are laid 

 in the furrows and covered with the 

 plough : they are always earthed up 

 round the stems, sometimes by a 

 plough with a mould-board on each 

 side, but generally by hand with a 

 broad hoe. The manure usually i)ut 

 on the land in which potatoes are to i 

 be set is double the quantity used for 

 a corn crop ; and a good soaking of 

 the soil with urine is thought to in- 

 vigorate the growth of the plant 

 greatly. The produce, however, is 

 not much more abundant than it is 

 usually in those parts of England 

 where potatoes are raised in consid- 

 erable quantities in the fields — about 

 300 bushels on an acre. There is 

 a small yellow potato in Flanders, 

 which is excellent when boiled, and 

 which grows well in a stiff loam, but | 

 it is not so productive as the large 

 cattle potato. 



" The cultivation of the sugar beet 

 has been resumed lately, after it had 

 been entirely abandoned. There are 

 now several considerable manufac- 

 tures of beet-root sugar ; but it is not 

 a favourite culture with the farmers, 

 not even for their cattle, as it is too 

 long on the ground. They prefer 

 turnips and carrots, which can be 

 raised on the same land which has 

 borne another valuable crop the same 

 year. 



" In the heavier loams, which are 

 chiefly to be met with in West Flan- 

 ders and about Alost, the following 

 rotation is adopted : flax, clover, bar- 

 ley or oats, beans, wheat, rye and 

 turnips, potatoes, colza and carrots, 

 fla.x ; or flax, colza, wheat, rye and 

 turnips, oats, clover, wheat, rye. 



" Beans are not a favourite crop, 

 and are not carefully cultivated. They 

 are sometimes sown very thick, mix- 

 ed with pease and tares, to be cut up 

 in a green state for the cows and 

 pigs ; and in this way they produce 

 a great quantity of green food, and 

 clean the ground by excluding the air 

 and smothering the weeds. On a 



farm of thirty-six bonniers, in a very 

 good Ijamy soil near Courtray, the 

 land was divided into si.x equal parts 

 of six bonniers each, and the crops 

 were distributed as follows : 



" The manure used for these crops 

 was partly dung from the yard and 

 cows' urine, but chiefly the sweep- 

 ings of the streets and the emptyings 

 of privies from Courtray. 



" In a very rich loam, not far from 

 Ypres, the following crops were no- 

 ticed in regular rotation; 1, turnips 

 with chicory and carrots ; 2, oats ; 3, 

 clover ; 4, wheat ; 5, flax ; 6, wheat ; 

 7, beans ; 8, wheat ; 9, potatoes ; 10, 

 wheat ; 11, oats. All these crops are 

 of an exhausting nature, and it re- 

 quires a very rich soil, aided by abun- 

 dant manuring, to bear this rotation 

 for any continuance ; but each of 

 these crops had a good portion of 

 manure. 



" Great attention is paid to prepare 

 the land so as to secure a good crop 

 from a small quantity of seed. The 

 seed usually sown in Flanders is 

 about one third less than in England, 

 even when the seed is drilled, which 

 it never is in Flanders. The ground 

 is rendered mellow and rich by the 

 tillage and the liquid manure ; and 

 the seed, which has been carefully 

 selected, is covered by earth spread 

 over it with the spade : it is after- 

 ward rolled or trod in with the feet. 

 Every grain vegetates ; and should 

 there be any slowness in the growth, 

 the urine-tank supplies an excellent 

 stimulant. It is in the springing of 

 the blade, after the farina in the seed 

 is exhausted, that the liquid manure 



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