82 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



494. The frequent manunngs given by the Flemish farmer astonish a stranger ; the 

 sources whence it is obtained in sufficient quantity form the difficulty, and this can only 

 be resolved by referring to the practice oi soiling ; to the numerous towns and villages ; and 

 to the care with which every particle of vegetable or animal refuse is saved for this 

 purpose. Manure in Flanders, as in China, is an article of trade. The selling price 

 of each description is easily ascertained ; the towns let the cleansing of the streets and 

 public retiring places at great rents. Chaptal says there are in every town sworn brokers, 

 expressly for the purpose of valuing night soil ; and that these brokers know the exact de- 

 gree of fermentation in that manure which suits every kind of vegetable, at the different 

 periods of its growth. {Chimie ajypHquee a V Agriculture, 1. 137.) 



495. Every substance that constitutes, or is convertible to, manure, is sought after with 

 avidity, which accounts for the extreme cleanliness of the Flemish towns and pavements, 

 hourly resorted to, with brooms and barrows, as a source of profit. Even the chips 

 which accumulate in the formation of the wooden shoes worn by the peasantry, are made 

 to constitute a part of tlie compost dung-heap ; and trees are frequently cultivated in 

 barren lands, merely to remain till their deciduous leaves shall, in course of time, have 

 formed an artificial surface for the purpose of cultivation. The manures in general use 

 are, 



496. The farm-yard dung, which is a mixture of every matter that the farm-yard produces, formed into 

 a compost, which consists of dung and litter from the stables, chaff, sweepings, straw, sludge, and rubbish, 

 all collected in a hollow part of the yard, so prepared as to prevent the juices from being wasted ; and the 

 value of this, by the cart-load of 1500 lbs. of Ghent, is estimated at five francs. 



497. The dung of sheep, pigeons, or poultry, by the same cart-load, five francs and a half. 



498. Sweepings of streets and roads, same quantity, three francs, 



499. Ashes of peat and wood mixed, same quantity, eight francs. 



500. Privy manure and urine, same quantity, seven francs. 



501. Lime, same quantity, twenty-four francs. 



502. Rape-cake, per hundred cakes, fifteen francs. 



503. Gypsum, sea mud, and the sediment of the canals, have been all tried experimentally, and with 

 fair results ; but the two former have been merely tried ; the latter is used successfully in the vicinity of 

 Bruges. 



504. Bone manure was altogether unknown in Flanders ; but, at the suggestion of Rad liff, is now 

 under experiment in that country. 



505. The agricultural implements of Flanders are by no means such as the excellence 

 of the Flemish culture would lead us to suspect. They are in general of rude work- 

 manship, but constructed with attention to strength, durability, and cheapness. 



506. The plough has a rude appearance, but works easily, and makes excellent work in 

 loose friable soil j though it would not make a sharp angled furrow-slice in breaking up 

 pastures. It is never dbrawn by more than two horses, and on light sands often by one, 

 or by a single ass. 



507. The binot, or Walloon plough, used in Brabant, described by Sir John Sinclair, is a plough with a 

 double or scufHer share, two mould-boards, but no coulter. It is chiefly used for breaking up lands. If 

 the soil is foul, they employ it two or three times, for the purpose of cleaning it thoroughly. The land 

 is not turned over, as by the plough, and the weeds buried, but the soil is elevated into small ridges, by 

 means of which the couch and other root-weeds are not only cut, but they are exposed to the frost in 

 winter, and to the drought of spring ; and when the land becomes dry, which it does quickly when thus 

 elevated, these weeds are collected by the harrow, by a trident (or large pitchfork), by a rake, or by the 

 hand. After the binot, the land is always ploughed for the seed furrow. This implement and its appli- 

 cation are strongly recommended to the British farmer, by Sir J. Sinclair, as improvements ; but, as the 

 editor of the Farmer's Magazine observes, the implement is nothing more than a double mould-board 

 plough, and the operation of ridging with it is the justly exploded practice of " ribbing." The late 

 machinist Weir informed us, that he had orders for several binots from Sir J. Sinclair and others, and 

 that he used exactly the same form, as when a double mould-board plough was ordered. 



508. The mouldebaert {fig. 59.) is a curious and useful implement. It resembles a 

 large square malt or cinder shovel, strongly prepared with iron on the cutting edge, and 



