VOL. XVII NO. 23. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



ni 



FLEMISH HUSBANDRY. 

 Of the cultivation of Leguminous Plants, Peas, 

 Beans, Tares, and Green Crops, Clover, Spurry. 

 Peas are cultivated on the light soils, but as is 

 the case with buckwheat, they are only sown when 

 the land is not tliought sufficiently rich for other 

 crops, and when there is a deficiency of manure ; 

 as little or none is given to the land for this pulse. 

 Thov are generally sown broad-cast in the month 

 of April, ami the seed ploughed in ; two bushels of 

 seed per acre is tlie usual quantity. The ground 

 is prepared by being ploughed once or twice in 

 autumn, and again in spring, but less care is be- 

 stowed on this crop than on any other. When the 

 plants are about four inches high, they are well 

 hand-weeded ; the produce is from twentyeiglit to 

 thirtytwo bushels per acre. Neither peas nor flax 

 are sown again on the land which has borne a crop 

 of peas, in less than eight or ten years. The 

 white pea, which is split for ship store, is preferred 

 as the most valuable ; but the grey pea for hogs is 

 also common. 



The cultivation of beans on the heavy soils, 

 which alone are fitted for this pulse, is by no means 

 so perfect as in England, especially in Kent. The 

 broad-cast method of sowing prevents the use of 

 the horse-hoe ; and as a principal object in sowing 

 beans in Flanders is to smother the weeds, they 

 are sown so thick, that the hand-hoe is of little use. 

 The manner in which the land is prepared is as 

 follows: having been ploughed in autumn, and well 

 harrowed to destroy the weeds, it is ploughed again 

 very deep in March, and the stitches are reversed, 

 the crown being where the interval was before. It 

 is again well harrowed, and about three bushels of 

 beans per acre are sown regularly by hand and 

 harrowed in ; after this ten or twelve tons of ma- 

 nure are put on evenly, or, if the soil is very heavy 

 and cold, eight tons of manure and fifty bushels of 

 lime. This is ploughed in with a very shallow 

 furrow, only two or three inches deep, and then 

 the land is laid smooth by passing the harrows re- 

 versed over it. Some farmers sow the beans after 

 the manure is spread, and plough in both together; 

 others plough in die manure first, and then sow the 

 beans, and cover them with t!ie harrows. This 

 last method does not sufficiently cover them, and 

 if the weather should be dry soon after sowing, 

 j the beans will not come up so regularly. 

 ; A few intelligent proprietors have seen the de- 

 i ficiency of this method both in the crop and in the 

 state of die land after it, and have adopted another 

 practice taken from the gardeners. A man with a 

 strong hoe like the Devonshire hack, makes holes 

 in a line, at a foot or more from each otlier and 

 women follow and drop two or three beans in each 

 hole, which are covered widi the earth scooped out 

 of the ne.xt row of holes as the workman returns. 

 The distance between the rows is the same as 

 between the holes in the rows ; and by making die 

 I holes in one row opposite the intervals of the other, 

 the whole field is planted in a quincunx order, as 

 is usually done with cabbage plants. There is a 

 great saving of seed in this way of planting beans ; 

 and when the plants come up they are well hoed 

 , and weeded, and the earth is drawn up all around 

 the stems. The produce is much greater, and the 

 land is as clean as after a fallow. Another meth 



of tlie next furrow when the plough returns, till in some places in Flanders threatened to put an 

 the whole field is planted. If this is done in every I end to the cultivadon of clover. The minute seeds 

 second furrow only, tlie crop will be all the better, of this plant fi.x themselves to the roots of the 

 and the land more easily hoed. Horse-hoes have., clover and vegetate at their e.vpense. The plant 

 not yet been introduced into practice ; some such i affected becomes weak, and ultimately dies away, 

 instruments have been brought from England, but | and the Orobanche spreads so rapidly, that whole 

 they are mere objects of curkisity, and are despised fields of clover are soon destroyed, if the progress 



by the ignorant. In heavy soils some of the best 

 farmers trench-plough tlie land, by means of two 

 ploughs following eacli other in the same furrow. 

 This is most advantageously done before winter, 

 that the frost may mellow the poorer earth brought 

 up. A good liming and manuring soon bring the 

 whole mass into a fertile state ; and in this deep 

 sod beans grow luxuriantly. In some districts 

 where the soil is lonmy, they sow peas and beans 

 together, and sometimes tares also ; the object is 

 to produce green food for the cows and pigs in 

 summer. In this case the closer the plants can be 

 made to grow, the better for the land ; as nothing 

 cleans it more effectually. The crop is cut at the 

 time when the pods are just formed, and while the 

 top is still in bloom ; it is used in a fresh . green 

 state, as tares are in England. If any extent of 

 ground is devoted to this crop, portions are sown 

 at different times to have a regular succession ; it 

 produces the heaviest crop of green food that can 

 well be got from the land. This practice is worthy 

 of imitation in our stiff soils. It seems not to ex- 

 haust the land, and leaves an admirable surface to 

 sow wheat in with a single slight ploughing ; or if 

 it be thought advantageous, there is ample time 

 thoroughly to pulverize die soil during summer and 

 autumn. 



Tares are occasionally sown for their seed, like 

 peas, but they do not enter into the usual rotations, 

 and as the generality of soils are light, clover is 

 preferred. In the heavy soils they are mixed with 

 peas and beans for green fodder as we noticed 

 above. A more extensive cultivation and succes- 

 sion of winter tare*, and spring tares, might afford 

 a useful addition to the food for horses in summe'' ; 

 especially as ctover cannot be sown with advantpfe 

 on die same land oftener than every seven or eight 

 years. 



Clover is the glory of Flemish farming, and in 

 no country is it found in greater perfection. It 

 was from Flanders that the cultivation of this pro- 

 ductive and useful plant was introduced into Great 

 Britain. Sir Richard Weston, in an account of a 

 journey into the Netherlands in 1645, speaks with 

 admiration of the fields of clover he had seen there, 

 when clover was not known in England as a culti- 

 vated crop, and only found amongst natural grasses 

 in rich meadows. The large broad clover, com- 

 monly called red clover, (Trifolium Pratense,) is 

 that which is chiefly cultivated in Flanders. This 

 is son n in spring at the rate of 8 lbs. ot seed per 

 acre amongst the barley, oats or flax, or in the rye 

 or wheat which were sown in autumn. When it is 

 sown among flax, which is drawn without injuring 

 the clover, it is C'„t the same year. With barley it 

 is apt to become too rank and impede the drying of 

 that crop at harvest. In the second year the clover 

 comes to perfection ; it is then mown at least twice, 

 but often three times in the season, furnishing a 

 heavy green crop each time. The great use of 

 clover forcatde tempts farmers to repeat the crop 

 too often on the same ground, and the consequence 



od where the land is sound and dry, is to spread is a failure, not only on account of die sml being 

 the manure, and rake it into the furrows as fast as [deteriorated for this plant by too frequent produc- 

 they are made by the plough ; beans are dien jdon of it, but also by encouraging a most destruc- 

 (Wfpped on the manure and covered widi die earth I live parasitical plant called die Orobanche, which 



of it be not arrested in time ; the only sure remedy 

 is to keep the land in good tillage, and not to sow 

 clover in it again for at least eight or ten years ; 

 if it be sown sooner the Orobanche will again 

 make its appearance. This plant is known in Eng- 

 land, but its devastations liave never besn so great 

 as to lead to any public notice of it. It is easily 

 discovered, rising several inches out of the ground, 

 and die stem being of a peculiar scaly form. 



In the spring of the next year after the clover 

 is sown, it is almost universally dressed with Dutch 

 peat-ashes, at least in the lighter soils. From 

 thirty to fifty bushels are spread on an acre about 

 the end of February ; showery weather is favorable 

 to their being washed to the roots of the clover. 

 In strong soils the top-dressing often consists of 

 the compost, wh^h we have described as being 

 collected in the croupissoir, which is rich and well 

 mixed with lime. When weeds appear among the 

 young clover, they are carefully pulled up at the 

 time when the top-dressing is put on ; and if the 

 plants seem weak and thin, a sprinkling of diluted 

 tank liquor invigorates the growth. 



The greatest part of the clover is given to cattle 

 in a green state, it being then most nutritive ; hay 

 is only made of any surplus quantity which could 

 not be consumed in the season. This is usually 

 made about the middle or end of June. In the 

 making of clover hay, there is nothing superior to 

 the methods used in England, excepting that small 

 proprietors sometimes reap it and tie it in bundles, 

 as is done with corn, especially if the seed be ripe ; 

 by this means the leaves are less scattered about, 

 and in them is contained the principal nourishment 

 of the plant. In order to have clover seed free 

 from admixture with the seeds of weeds, women 

 and children are sometimes emptoyed to gather the 

 heads of the clover, singly, when ripe ; diey col- 

 lect them in baskets and carry them to the barn 

 UU they can be thrashed, which is usually done in 

 dry frosty weather : because then the capsules are 

 britde, and the seed separates more easily from 

 them. 



The Waes county is that which chiefly supplies 

 the market with clover seed ; and Lokeren is the 

 place where die greatest quantity is sold. Many 

 farmers from other districts prefer buying this seed 

 to saving their own. 



The value of an acre of clover is very consid- 

 erable. The first crop is often sold on the ground 

 for 120 francs, neary HI. per acre, and the seed 

 from the second crop, which in die Waes county 

 frequently amounts to five or six cwt., may be worth 

 there as much more, making the whole produce 

 amount to 10/. with very little outlay. Taking the 

 dift'erence in the value of agricultural produce, this 

 is fully equal to 15/. per acre in England, a sum 

 which few crops of clover will realize here, when 

 the expense of making the hay is deducted. W hen 

 the clover-plant fails, the land is ploughed in au- 

 tumn, and some other crop is sown ; or fresh clover 

 seed is sown in the vacant places, in the following 

 spring, and die bush harrow or die traineau is 

 drawn over to bury it ; by this means a good crop 

 is often secured by the end of July. 



Spurry, — Spergula ^rvensis—ia a plant which 



