396 Horticultural Tour in the Netherlands. 



the upper rooms, which, though very low, were still habitable, 

 they said they wanted them for a granary and for the men- 

 servants. After a plentiful breakfast on coffee, eggs, and 

 wheaten bread (a luxury here, for rye is in general use), in 

 the parlour, which also contained the spare bed, i. e. berth, 

 and the best images of their patron saints, we visited the farm- 

 yard, to look at the implements and stock. The ploughs and 

 harrows were such as we find in Essex, among what are 

 called old-fashion farmers, but much more clumsy ; the gear 

 and harness, instead of iron traces and leather thongs and 

 straps, were of wood and ropes, and manufactured in a man- 

 ner that would make one of our English ploughmen laugh, 

 and exult in the superiority of old England. The horses 

 were fat in the extreme, and the cows a fine short-horned 

 breed in good condition ; but the pigs, heaven save the mark ! 

 made me laugh heartily, in which the farmer most good- 

 naturedly joined : and when I gravely told him they would 

 form a valuable article of export to England; and then, in 

 reply to his earnest interrogatories, " Why?" told him that 

 they would supersede our most valuable breed of greyhounds, 

 for the purpose of catching hares, he perfectly understood the 

 joke, and enjoyed it much. A friend had imported some 

 good bred English pigs, for the purpose of crossing and im- 

 proving their breed ; but the Flemish farmers did not like to 

 spoil their long-legged ones, and would not listen to him ; the 

 sheep were also in wretched plight, badly bred, and toothless. 

 The land Was, however, of fine quality; I saw red clover 

 ( ZHfolium pratense) drying for hay, tied in sheaves, the 

 stems of which were more than 4 ft. long ; horse beans still 

 in full growth, being partly off bloom, 6 ft. to 7 ft. high ; 

 wheat and rye also very fine; but that beautiful crop, flax, 

 gave me most pleasure. I have not seen it growing in Eng- 

 land or Ireland ; but some fields between Bruges and Ghent 

 seemed exceedingly luxuriant, also more particularly one or 

 two on the Oudenarde road from Ghent, some plants of which 

 I measured, and found the stems from 2>\ ft. to 4 ft. long : the 

 flax, I had previously seen in France, was perhaps not more 

 than from 1 ft. to I \ ft. 



After a survey of the crops on the farm, we returned, 

 and saw the family at dinner; and here, again, the contrast 

 with England was most striking: the children were dining 

 on flour and water, a sort of thick gruel, potatoes, and 

 salad; and when I asked the mistress where they procured 

 their meat, she immediately said they never ate any but 

 " swine's flesh," unless a sheep fell ill, and was obliged to be 

 killed. 



