SUPPLEMENT. 707 



Leaving out the wages and the board of a female servant, it is estimated that the ex- 

 pense of cultivation does not exceed 50 francs ($10) per hectare (2.} acres). Of 10 hec- 

 tares of pasture land three and a half are mowed at a cost of 25 francs per hectare. 

 Mowers from Ardennes and the valley of the Mouse perform this labor. Not a single 

 farmer mows his meadows himself; he contents himself with working at hay- making 

 with his children and with hired hands from the neighborhood, both male and female, 

 who are well paid and well fed. 



Every good farmer is exceedingly careful with regard to the manner in which his hay 

 is moved; ho requires that the scythe leave nothing after it; the grass must be cut uni- 

 formly close to the ground. This requirement is fully justified, for if the grass has at- 

 tained an average length of from 50 to 60 centimeters (16 to 20 inches), and if the mower 

 leaves 2 centimeters (f of an inch), 4 per cent, of the grass is of course lost; moreover, 

 when a meadow is mowed as close as it ought to be the second growth is always more 

 vigorous and uniform. 



These 3} hectares (8J acres) of meadow land are manured in the spring with all the 

 manure that has accumulated during the winter; it is spread by the members of the 

 family and the hired men. A regular carter, with his horse and cart will, in three 

 days, do all the carting of manure that is needed. The expense of this is 40 francs, 



The work of repairing fences and keeping them in order is intrusted to none but 

 skilled mechanics men who thoroughly understand their business and who do this 

 work, when the weather permits, during the dull season. 



The traditional way of judging of the excellence of a farm is by the condition in 

 which its fences are kept. This is very natural. As they are to inclose numerous and 

 vigorous herds both day and night, these fences should be of the strongest possible kind. 



All the new hedges that have been planted along the main roads and improved cross- 

 roads are of live thorn bushes, cut and kept at the uniform height of 1 meter and 40 

 centimeters (4 feet 3 inches). Hedges planted in the meadows are perennial, and con- 

 sist of yoke elms, hazels, hollies, and thorn bushes. 



At the foot of these beautiful hedges the grass grows as it does in the middle of a 

 meadow. A farmer would be disgraced if he allowed brambles, nettles, or other injuri- 

 ous parasitical plants to grow at the foot of these hedges; hardly is the violet suffered 

 to grow there. 



The value of land in the province of Liege was, in 1846, 2,797 francs ($560) per hec- 

 tare; in 1856 it was 3,596 francs ($720) ; in 1866, 4,239 francs ($848). 

 ' The statistics of 1846, 1856, and 1866 show this value according to agricultural dis- 

 tricts. We consequently know that the average value of a hectare in the canton of 

 Herve was, in 1846, 3,087 francs ($617); in 1856, 4,000 francs ($800); and in 1866, 4,825 

 francs ($965). 



The average annual rent paid for land in the province was, in 1846, 81 francs ($16); 

 in 1853, 101 francs (20); in 1866, 124 francs ($25); at Herve it was, in 1846, 118 francs 

 ($23); in 1856, 150 francs ($30), and in 1833, 165 francs* ($33). These figures are offi- 

 cial. Prices are now much larger. 



In almost all the agricultural cantons of the province of Liege farms are divided up so 

 tha t they may be more advantageously sold. In the district of Herve-Aubel this method 

 of selling is unknown. At the present time the price of a hectare of fourth and fifth 

 rate meadow land in the district of Ilerve-Aubel is upward of 5,000 francs ($1,000) and 

 th t of a hectare of second and third rate meadow land is upward of 7,000 francs 

 ($1,400). Three farms were very recently sold one of them, situated at Bouxhmont- 

 Charnoux, containing 9 hectares; two of them, situated in the Commune of Battice, one 

 containing 10 hectares, situated at Chene-du-Loup; the other, containing 12 hectares, at 

 G rand-Xnore, at 10, 000 francs per hectare. Six hectares of meadow land, without build- 

 ings, situated near the village of Clermont, were sold for 61, 000 francs; these 6 hectares 

 were purchased by two farmers. Two of the farms sold were leased at the rate of 400 francs 

 ($80) per hectare; the average price at which meadow land is nowsold in the district of 

 Herve-Aubcl is nearly 8,000 francs ($1,600) per hectare. 



The dwelling houses and stables are strongly built of stone or brick; the greater part 

 of them are roofed with slate, the rest with tiles; thatched roofs are a thing of the past. 

 The stables adjoin the dwelling houses, and in the wall that separates them are doors 

 t h rough which the stables may be entered; they are thus more easily cared for in win- 

 ter. The stables are lined and vaulted; a passage separates .them; the troughs extend to 

 this passage, in which the food is prepared and distributed to the animals: 



*In France the average price of arable land per hectare was, in 1862, 2, 198 francs 

 (8440); of meadow land, 3, 377 francs ($676); of vine land, 2,727 francs ($546). The 

 rent paid for a hectare of land was, on an average, 70 francs ($14); for meadow land. 

 109 francs ($22); and for vine land, 102 francs ($20.50). 



