74 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTRAIBKR 12. ISr^S. 



I-rnni Ihe Library of Useful Knowledge, larniers .-erica. 



FLEMISH HUSBANDKY. 

 The poor sandy heaths, which have been con- 

 verted into productive farms, evince the indefatiga- 

 ble industry and perseverance of tlie Pleminjrs. — 

 They seem to want nothini; but a space to work 

 upon ; whatever be the quality or texture of the soil, 

 in time they will make it produce something. The 

 sand in the Campine can be compared to nothing 

 4>»t the sands on the sea shore, which they probably 

 were originally. It is highly interesting to follow, 

 step by step, tlie progress of iniprovemenL Here 

 you sec a cottage and rude cow-shed -erected on a 

 spot of the most unpromising aspect. The loose 

 white sand blown into irregular mounds is only kept 

 together by the roots of the heath : a small spot 

 only is levelled and surrounded by a ditch ; part of 

 this is covered with young broom, part is planted 

 with potatoes, and perhaps a small patch of diminu- 

 tive clover may show itself; but there is n heap of 

 dung and compost forming. The urine of the cow 

 i% collected in a smal' tank, or perliaps in a cask 

 sunk in the earth ; and this is the nucleus from 

 which, in a few years, a little farm will spread 

 arcmd. 



fn another spot more extensive improvements 

 are going on ; a wealthy proprietor or leasee is 

 trenciiing and levelling the surface, sowing broom- 

 seed, and planting young fir trees, which are to be 

 cut down in a few years. In another, the process 

 has gone on further, the firs or the broom are al- 

 ready cut down : a vein of loam has been found, 

 and is dug out to be spread over the sandy surface : 

 the cart with liquid manure is preparing the sur- 

 face for the reception of seed, or the same, diluted 

 •with water, is poured over the young blade just 

 appearing above ground. The soil is created, and, 

 if the cost and labor were reckoned, ie paid for at a 

 dear rate ; but perseverance insures success, and 

 there are few instances of improvements being 

 abandoned, after they are fairly begun, unless they 

 were undertaken on too large a scale; but then the 

 land is soon divided into smaller portions, and im- 

 provements, go on from different centres, and with 

 more certainty. 



We are here describing the labor of brinrring a 

 soil absolutely barren into a state of cultivation ; 

 but in most of the districts which have been origi- 

 nally waste and covered with heath, and which are 

 now fertilized, a less ungrateful soil was found. 

 Deep trenching and levelling at once presented a 

 surface which required only to 'be manured to pro 

 duce rye, (tax, and potatoes. This is what w( 

 should call a moderately good sand, in which a 

 small portion of clay and oxide of ITon produces a 

 certain degree of compactness, so as at least to re- 



deep as the trenching i^ intended, generally two 

 feet, or dt least twenty inches; this ditch is filled 

 with the earth whicSi is taken in long thin slices 

 from tiie edge of the solid side of tlie ditch. Ev- 

 ery slice is distributed carefully, so as to mix the 

 whole, and keep the best soil at top, and likewise 

 to fill up hollows and le»el eminences. If tliere is 

 more than can conveniently be spread level, little 

 heaps are made of the superfluous earth, which are 

 afterwards carried, in an ingenious manner, to fill 

 up more distant hollows, by means of horses and an 

 instrument which is called a moUchart. Wherever 

 tliere is a pan it is carefully broken, and the loam, 

 which is always found under it, is mixed with the 

 sand du'r out. Draining is seldom required here, 

 except that which is ctfocted by making deep ditch- 

 es to carry off the superfluous rain water, which, in 

 a Country almost as level as a lake, is no great dif- 

 ficulty. A canal near at hand is, however, an es- 

 sential condition of extensive improvement, to bring 

 manure, and carry off the produce of the land, us 

 well as to be an outlet for the water in the ditches. 

 When Count Chaptal traversed a barren part of 

 Flanders, accompanying the Emperor N.ipoleon, the 

 latter expressed his surprise, at a meeting of the 

 Council of the Department, that so great a tract of 

 land remained uncultivated in so industrious a na- 

 tion. The answer was, 'If your majesty will order 

 i canal to be made through this district, we pledge 

 ourselves that in five years it will be all converted 

 into fertile fields. The canal was ordered to be 

 made without delay, and in less time than they 

 promised not an unproductive spot remained. — (See 

 Chaptal, ' Chimie Appliquee a I'Agriculture,' vol. i. 

 p. ;347.] — One great cause of the agricultural pros- 

 perity of Flanders is tlie ready transportation of 

 manure and produce by canals. But to return to 

 the newly trenclied land. If there is no manure at 

 hand, the only thing that can be sown on poor sand, 

 at first, is broom ; this grows in the most barren 

 soils ; in three years it is fit to cut, and produces 

 some return in fagots for the bakers and brick- 

 makers. The leaves which have fallen have some- 

 what enriched the soil, and the fibres of the roots 

 have given a certain degree of compactness. It 

 may now be ploughed and sown with buckwheat, 

 or even with rye without manure. By the time 

 this is reaped some manure may have been collect- 

 ed, and a regular course of cropping may begin. — 

 As soon as clover and potatoes enable the fanner 

 to keep cows and make manure, the improvement 

 goes on rapidly ; in a few years the soil undergoes 

 a completi^ change : it becomes mellow and reten- 

 tive of moisture, and enriched by the vegetiihle 

 matter afforded by the decomposition of the roots 

 of clover and other plants. It is surprising that so 

 few ehe'ep should be kept on these new farms. — = 



tain moisture : under this kind of sand a stratum of ,Shoep foldcu would do good by tlieir tread, as well 



loam is usually found at the depth of two or throe 

 feet, and, almost invariably between the sand and 

 the loam, an indurated crust of earth cemented by 

 carbonate of iron, which is well known to all im- 

 provers of poor sands by the naine of the iron pan ; 

 this pan must be broken up and the loam under it 

 mixed with the sandy surface, before any cultiva 



re, but tlie management and feeding 

 of sheep is a part of husbandry in which the Flem- 

 ings, with very few exceptions, are decidedly as 

 much behind our light land farmers, as they are be- 

 fore us in the feeding of their cows, and prepara- 

 tion and economy of manure. 



If about twenty small cart-loads of dung can be 



tion can succeed ; and in this operation the Flein- 1 brouirht on each acre of the newly trenched ground, 



ings are very dexterous. The instrument they use the progress is much more rapid. Potatoes are then 



is a light wooden trenching spade, the end of the the first crop, and generally give a good return. — 



blade only being shod with iron : tlie handle of this The same quantity of dung is required for the next 



spade is about two feet long, the blade from twelve crop, which is ryn, in which clover is sown in the 



to fifteen inches. A light pick-axe is used to break succeeding spring; and a small portion is sown 



the pan where it appears. A ditch is dug with with carrots, of which they have a w/liite sort, which 



the trenching spado, two or three feet wide, and as is very productive and large in good ground, and 



which, even in this poor soil, gives a tolerable 

 supply of food to the cows in winter. Should the 

 clover fail, which sometimes happens, the ground is 

 ploughed in spring and sown with oats and clover 

 again. But if the clover comes up well amongst 

 the rye stubble, it is cut twice, after having been 

 dressed with Dutch ashes early in spring. It is 

 mostly consumed in the green state. The clpver- 

 ley is manured with ten cartloads of dung to the 

 acre, and rye sown again, but not clover. Afler 

 the rye conies buckwheat without any manure ; 

 then potatoes again, manured as at first, and the 

 same rotation of crops follows. It is found that the 

 poor land gradually improves at each rotation from 

 the quantity of dung used ; and, as this is essen- 

 tial, it will be easily seen that without water car- 

 riage the improvement could not go on ; for the 

 necessary quantity of dung could never be brought 

 to the ground by land carriage through tlie deep 

 sandy roads, which are mere tracks. 



For want of sufiicient manure, broom-seed is 

 sometimes sown with the rye after tlie clover. The 

 rye is heaped and the broom continues in the ground 

 two years longer. It is then cut for fuel. The green 

 tops are sometimes us'jd for litter for the cows, and 

 thus converted into manure. It is also occasionally 

 ploughed in, when young and green, to e'nrich the 

 land. Oats, clover, and broom are occasionally 

 sown together. Tlie oats are reaped the first year j 

 the clover and young broom tops the next, and the 

 broom cut in the third. This is a curious practice, 

 and its advantage appears rather problematical. All 

 these various methods of bringing poor sands into 

 cultivation show tJiat no device is omitted, which 

 ingenuity can suggest, to supply the want of ma- 

 nure. 



After the land has been gradually brought into a 

 good state, and is cultivated in a regular manner, 

 there appears much less difference between the soils 

 which have been originally good, and those which 

 have been made so by labor and industry. At least 

 the crops in both appear more nearly alike at har- 

 vest, than is the case in soils of different qualities 

 in other countries. This is a great proof of the 

 excellency of the Flemish system ; for it shows 

 that the land is in a constant state of improvement, 

 and that the deficiency of the soil is compensated 

 by greater attention to tillage and manuring ; es- 

 pecially the latter. The maxim of the Flemish 

 farmer is, that ' without manure there is no corn — 

 without cattle there is no manure — and without 

 green crops and roots cattle cannot be kept' Ev- 

 ery farmer calculates how much manure he requires 

 for his land every year. If it can be bought at a 

 reasonable rate, he never grudges the outlay. If it 

 cannot be purchased, it must be made on the farm. 

 A portion of land must be devoted to feed stock, 

 which will make sufficient manure for the remain- 

 der : for he thinks it better to keep half the farm 

 only in productive crops well manured, than double 

 the amount of acres sown on badly prepared' land. 

 Hence also he does not reckon what the value 

 would be of the food given to the cattle, if sold in 

 the market, but how much labor it costs him to 

 raise it, and what will be t!ie increase of his crops 

 from the manure collected. The land is never al- 

 lowed to be idle, so long as tlie season will permit 

 any thing to grow. If it is not stirred by the plough 

 and harrows to clear it of weeds, some useful crop 

 or other is growing in it. Hence the practice of 

 sowing different seeds amongst growing crops, 

 such as clover or carrots among corn or flax ; and I 

 those which grow rapidly between the reaping of 



