BELGIUM. 363 



amongst some of the farmers, requires a higher degree of nurture than 

 the soil affords and is giving way to a cross with the Ardennaise stock. 



CATTLE FEEDING- IN BELGIUM. - 



Alt-hough, as before stated, Belgium is not to any considerable degree 

 a cattle-raising country, the amount of care and labor the small farm- 

 ers and dairymen bestow upon these animals is very great, and as a 

 result they have succeeded, in many cases, in bringing their milch cows 

 up to the highest degree of milk and butter producing qualities. 



Many of these cows are stall-fed all the year; plenty of good water 

 and the food best adapted to the production of rich milk is supplied 

 them with great punctuality. They are combed and brushed and their 

 skin kept perfectly clean ; their stables are also models of cleanliness, 

 and nothing is left undone either in the way of kind treatment, abun- 

 dant food and water, or good shelter, to bring these animals up to 

 the highest degree of perfection. Their food from May to October con- 

 sists chiefly of an abundant supply of clover ; from October to January 

 turnips and carrots boiled are added to the fodder, and from January 

 to May beets, and malt when it can be had, are fed. Clover and malt 

 are here regarded as the best milk- producing articles of food. 



YIELD OF MILK OF BELGIAN COWS. 



From the most reliable information I can obtain a good, average fresh 

 Flemish cow will yield from 28 to 30 liters of milk daily ; a Flemish and 

 Ardennaise cross, from 18 to 24, and a pure Holland about the same 

 quantity. All the crosses with the Shorthorns may be set down as 

 giving a fraction less than these figures in quantity ; as a rule their 

 milk is richer in cream and consequently in butter, but after the sepa- 

 ration of the cream the milk is left proportionately poor. 



MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS. 



The cows of all the native breeds and crosses in this country are 

 considered at maturity when three years old, but bulls and steers, par- 

 ticularly of Durham crosses, will grow until they are four years old. 



In the subjoined table, marked A, will be found, as nearly as I can as- 

 certain it (in the absence of any statistics on the subject), the live weight 

 of these animals at three years old, and the average price paid per kilo- 

 gram, live weight, for them fattened for the market. The table marked 

 B, giving their size, is a transcript of that published here on the occa- 

 sion of the great national exhibition of 1880, and is the only reliable in- 

 formaion I have been able to obtain on this subject. 



IMPORTS OF CATTLE INTO BELGIUM. 



As no census of the horned cattle in this Kingdom has been made 

 since 1875, I am unable to give a reliable answer to the questions in 

 your circular as to the present number, the percentage of breeds, and 

 the proportion bred for the butcher and dairy; but official documents 

 furnished me show that the importation of cattle into Belgium in 1881 

 amounted to 121,000 head, whilst the exports only amounted to 42,911 

 head, thus showing a deficit in the home supply for that year of 78,089 

 head. 



Of the total number imported Holland supplied 9J,OSO, and the 

 United States 355 head. 



