BELGIUM. 371 



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on the f6te, of the agricultural society of the province of Flandre Orien- 

 tale held in this city, and which took the form of an exhibition of the 

 milk industry of Belgium and Holland. It consisted of three grand 

 divisions : 



1. Milch cows, the producers. 



2. Milk, butter, and cheese, the products. 



3. The machinery and mechanical appliances used. These will be 

 treated in inverse order. 



DAIRY MACHINERY. 



The machinery was interesting and accomplished its work well, but 

 requires no elaborate mention, for the " universal Yankee nation" can 

 be taught but little about machinery upon which is brought to bear, 

 every day in the year, the inventive genius of every farm-yard, cheese 

 factory, and creamery in the laud. 



One machine is worthy of description. It was the invention of Le- 

 feldt, of Paris,*' for separating rapidly the milk and cream. It is a well- 

 known fact that milk is heavier than cream. The usual method is by 

 the application of the law of gravitation to this fact. The invention 

 consists in the application of the law of centrifugal motion. The fresh 

 milk is put in what resembles a common upright cylindrical milk can. 

 The can is made to revolve, still upright, at a high speed. The milk, being 

 the heaviest, flies to the periphery, which forces the cream to the center. 

 They are thus separated instantly, and are drained off by means of flex- 

 ible tubes into one vessel the milk, into another the cream. The only 

 care apparently necessary is to keep up the speed, and to properly 

 gauge the quantity at the entry and exit. 



Among the machinery exhibited was some for agriculture, and I was 

 surprised to see the United States so well represented. Of lawn-mowers 

 from Philadelphia, pumps from Seneca Falls, rakes, hoes, hay and dung 

 forks, both from New York and Philadelphia, the United States had 

 nearly a monopoly; and the importer, Dutry-Calson, said, for light ness, 

 combined with strength and beauty of style, no other implements could 

 successfully compete with ours. lie said England, Germany, and Bel- 

 gium could make them as good, but they were clumsier and heavier. 



Here was another illustration, if one be needed, of the-necessity for 

 industrial art education among our mechanics. With an improvement 

 approaching thoroughness in knowledge of the principles of art as ap- 

 plied to industry, the American mechanic can lead the world in the manu- 

 facture of articles for every day use, whether of necessity or luxury, 

 and a demand will be created for them, which will be coextensive with 

 the knowledge of them. This should be the ambition of every Ameri- 

 can mechanic, and when done, it will justly be the pride of the nation 

 which gave him birth. 



There were many sample wagons and carts for the delivery of milk 

 to the customers, showing neat contrivances to insure its safety from 

 adulteration by the carrier, but these have not yet come into general 

 use. The commonest method of delivery in this country is shown by 

 the following photograph, taken from nature. 



BELGIAN MILCH COWS. 



The second division, milk, butter, and cheese, will be reserved for an- 

 other dispatch, if deemed of sufficient importance. 



