V<»t.. XV H NO 10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



75 



one crop and the sowing of another, such as spur- 

 rey or turnips, immediately after the rye is cut, to 

 be t ilcen off before wheat sowing. These crops 

 seem sometimes scarcely worth the labor of plough- 

 ing and sowing ; but the ploughing is useful to the 

 next crop, so that tlie seed and sowing are the only 

 expense ; and while a useful crop is growing, weeds 

 are kept down. These are the general principles 

 of Flemish husbandry. 



The collection and application of manure is the 

 great secret of Flemish husbandry. Upon their 

 poor light soils nothing could be raised without an 

 abundance of manure. It is ctmsequently, an ob- 

 ject of minute attention to the Flemish farmer to 

 collect as much as possible, and to apply it in tlie 

 most advantageous manner. For this purpose the 

 dung of the different domestic animals is generally 

 kepr separate, especially that of cows, from that of 

 horses ; the former being thought better for dry 

 ■andy soils, the latter for colder loams and clays. 

 They look upon pigs' dung as being cold and in- 

 ferior, adopting in this respect the opinion of tlie 

 ancients. We think differently ; but this may be 

 easily accounted for. The Flemish store pigs are 

 fed in the most miserable manner, and are merely 

 kept alive on weeds taken from the fields, or by 

 very scanty grazing in rough pastures. We need 

 not be surprised, tlierefore, that their dung is poor. 

 The cows are better fed, and their dung is conse- 

 quently richer. Cow dung is thought to last long- 

 er in the soil, and its effects on the second crop 

 are more conspicuous than that of horse dung, 

 which stimulates more and is sooner effete. Sheep, 

 which are so important to the light-land farmer in 



consist of many square pits like tan pits, bricked : it can be colhcled in any quantity, is highly valu- 

 round, and the inside covered with a cement, | ed. The mode of using it is cither in a dry and 

 which prevents loss by filtration. There is gone- • powdered state, to which it is reduced by thrash- 

 rally in a corner of each pit a graduated scale, by ! ing with a fluil, when it is sown with the seeds of 

 which the number of barrels, or tons of liquid in leguminous plants, or else dissolved in the urine 

 the tank may be ascertained by observing the tank, and thus spread over the land. This manure 

 hei<rht of the surface. These tanks are gradually is chiefly reserved for kitched gardens ; it promotes 

 fille'd by boatloads brought from the large towns ; the growth of vegetables and produces no weeds, 

 and when the season arrives for sowing, in spring { The solid dung, from which the liquid has been 

 and autumn, the farmers coiiie with their carts and allowed to run off into the tank, must be carefully 

 tubs, and purchase as much as they want. The \ attended to, that it may not be too dry and become 

 price varies from three to five francs (two shillings i/ony, as it is called, or burn. It is therefore, mix- 

 and sixpence to four shillings) per hogshead ac- | ed up with earth and any useless vegetable matter 

 cordin<' to the quality. In a small farm of thirty which can be collected into a heap or compost ; 

 to forty acres the tank is generally about twenty ! and when it appears too dry some of the liquid 

 feet long, twelve wide, and six deep, with a par- I from the tank is poured over it, to excite fermen- 

 tition in° the meddle, and arched over, leaving an [ tation and accelerate decomposition, or it is mere- 

 opening for the pump, and another sufficient to al- j ly watered, when there is sufficient strength m it 

 low a man to go in to empty out the earthy deposit 1 to produce heat. 



which falls to the bottom. A trapdoor shuts over In order to increase, as much as possible the 

 tills aperture to prevent accidents. Sometimes the ; quantity of solid manure, there is m most farms a 

 tank is round, like a well, with a domed top, and ' place for the general reception of every kind ot 

 so deep in the irround, that it has a foot or two of vegetable matter which can be collected; this is a 

 earth over it. The situation of the tank is either shallow excavation, of a square or oblong torm, ot 



in the farmyard near the entrance of the cowhouse, 

 or immediately behind it; sometimes it is like a 

 cellar under the building ; but this is apt to cause 

 a disagreeable smell in the cowhouse. We here 



which the bottom has a gentle slope towards one 

 end. It is generally lined on three sides with a 

 wall of brick to keep the earth from falling in, and 

 this wall sometimes rises a foot or more abov^ the 



a disacrreeable sinetl in tile cownouse. \ve neiu lius wau suiiiou.i.ioo ,,^^^ ^ — -^ „. — 



describe those which we consider the most conve- ! level of the ground. In this pit are collected par 

 nient: the form and capacity of the tanks vary ac- j ings of grass sods from the sides ot roads and 

 cordin<r to the means and notions of the proprietors | ditches, weeds taken out ot the fields or canals, 

 of the farms : but a tank of some kind or other is j and every kind of refuse from the gardens : all this 

 considered as indispensible an appendage to. a farm , is occasionally moistened with the waslungs ot the 

 as a barn or cowhouse. The farmer would as soon ! stables, or any other rjch liquid ; a small portion 

 • ■ ■ - -• • ■■■ ■ :- --1---1- :•<- '-■- ' of dung and urine are added, if necessary, and 



which are so important to tue ugm-iauu lamici m q^ a. ^u.,^ ^. ^.. ....„„.■.,. ^..^ -. ^ 



Encrland and Scotland, for their manure, are not I think of dispensing with his plough as with his 



kept in sufficient quantities in Flander, nor well tank: and no expense or trouble is spared to keep 



enouo-h fed to do much good to the land. They this well supplied. The numerous towns and vil- 



are commonly housed every night, and driven about lages in Flanders afford great help in the way ot 



in the day to gam a scanty subsistence along the manure. The thrifty housewife and her active sub- oegi.mius u. . ,..aj„ ■■■^- ;*-; -"r-r- ■_- 



roads and sides of fields. The manure collected stitute the maid, know tlie value of what in our due time gives a very goo supply f '^fjlS^^ 



[rtiep foM is earned out on the land, and its households is thrown away or wasted and lost. A ble mould, or --po^t jell^^adapte^d^^to^ev^ery^pur- 



when it has been accumulating for some time, it is 

 taken out ; a portion of lime is added, and the 

 whole is well mixed together; thus it forms the 

 beginning of a heap, which rises gradually, and in 



effects are duly appreciated. A flock is occasion 

 ally folded on a clover ley before it is ploughed 

 up, but never on turnips, which are always given 

 to the cows. This is owing to the small extent 

 of the farms, which do not allow of a considerable 

 flock of sheep being kept by any one farmer ; but 

 a flock is made up of different lots of sheep be- 

 longing to several proprietors, and put under the 

 care of a common shepherd, or it is sometimes the 

 property of the shepherd, who occupies no land, 

 but lets out the sheep to fol-d, or sell the manure. 



But the great auxiliary of tlie Flemish farmer is 

 the UETNE TANK, whcreiu are collected not only 

 the urine of cows and horses, but also tlie drain- 

 ings of the dunghills. The urine tanks are gene- 

 ratly sunk below the level of the ground, and have 

 tlie sides built of brick, and the bottom paved : 

 they are of various dimensions, according to the 

 number of cows and horses on the farm. Attach- 

 ed to the distilleries, where many beasts are con- 

 stantly kept to consume the refuse wash, there are 

 very large urine tanks of an oblong shape, divided 

 by partitions into different chambers, so that the 

 liquor may be of the proper age when it is used, 



small tank, or a tub sunk in the ground in some 

 corner contains all the liquid which can in any way 

 be useful ; soapsuds, washings of ditches, &c., are 

 carefully kept in this reservoir, until once a week, 

 the farmer or contractor calls with his tub on a 

 cart, and this, mixeil with the contents of privies, 

 which are frequently emptied, he , keeps in large 

 cisterns for use or sale. 



But this supply is not always adequate to the 

 wants of the farmer, and then he has recourse to 

 rape cakes dissolved in water, or in the tanl?, which 

 is expensive, and can only be profitable where flax 

 bears a good price, tliis being the crop for which 

 rape cakes are chiefly used as manure. Every 

 means, therefore, of augmenting the supply of 

 urine is had recourse to, and the most efficacious is 

 the establishment of distilleries. These answer 

 the double purpose of consuming produce and in- 

 creasing manure by the number of beasts which 

 are fattened on the refuse wash. It is calculated 

 that every beast produces at the rate of ten or 

 twelve tons of dung and twentysix hogsheads of 

 urine in the year. A moderate distillery has fifty 

 or sixty head of cattle constantly stalled. Here 



liquor may be ot tne proper ajje wacii n, i= u=cu, ^^ ^^^-j "-- • - ---^ 



which some farmers thmk ought to be six months, then is a supply of manure for several hundred 



Each chamber is about eight feet square and six 

 or eight feet deep ; these are sometimes vaulted 

 over, but frequently only covered with loose boards. 

 As urine and the emptyings of privies are sold 

 wholesale and retail, there are many large tanks 

 near the rivers and canals, where the dealers have 

 Bometimes great quantities in store. Some of these 



acres of land every year. Formerly thure were a 

 great many distilleries iu Flanders, but the duty on 

 spirits and the interference of the government has 

 much reduced their number ; so that the farmers 

 complain of tlie loss of this manure, 'and the con- 

 sequent deficiency of their crops. 



The dung of pigeons and domestic fowls, where 



pose to which manure is applied. The place where 

 this accumulation is made is called in French a 

 croupissoir, and in Flemish or Dutch smoor hoop, 

 which may be translated smothering heap. 



Besides the manure which is collected on the 

 farm, the vidanges, or emptyings of privies obtained 

 from the towns, and the sweepings of streets, a large 

 quantity of peat ashes imported from Holland are 

 used, principally as a dressing .for clover. These 

 are the ashes of the common fuel in use in Holland, 

 and are sold in Flanders by the bushel, as the New- 

 bury ashes are in Berkshire. 



Wood ashes, af\er the greater part of the alkali 

 has been extracted for bleaching, are still consid- 

 ered as of great use to the land. Soapers' ashes 

 are in o-reat rennoft f:-: coia heavy soils ; and su- 

 gar scmn from the refiners, if it could be procured 

 hi sufficient quantity, would be an excellent manure 

 for every kind of soil. Where it can be obtained, 

 they usually throw it into the urine tank ; and the 

 mixture is then considered as almost equal to the 

 vidanges, which are looked upon as the ne phis ultra 

 of manures. Soot is used as a top-dressing for 

 wheat, or clover in spring, as it is with us. It u 

 thought to destroy insects and hasten vegetation. 



The weeus, which grow abundantly in all ponds, 

 canals, and ditches in this level country, where the 

 current is never rapid, are mown in spring, and 

 used in the green state as manure for potatoes. 

 They ar.; laid in the furrows, and the sets placed 

 over them ; the furrow is then filled up by the plough 

 and the weeds decomposing very rapidly, greatly 



