432 BELGIUM. 



most primitive fashion. More than a fourth of the area there is still covered with 

 furze and shrubs. In many localities, not yet subdivided into fields, the peasants 

 burn the grass, and sow their seed in the ashes. These plots are only sown once 

 every ten, twelve, or fifteen years, whilst fields in the neighbourhood produce 

 crops three years in succession, after which they are allowed to lie fallow. In 

 many parts the land is still held in common, and the cattle of all the inhabitants 

 graze in one herd. In Condroz, a district less elevated and of more recent 

 formation, the land has become individual property, and barren tracts are rare, 

 but one-third of the soil annually remains uncultivated. The bottom-lands of 

 Ileshaue, at the foot of the hills, on the other hand, are allowed no rest whatever. 

 They are carefully drained, and a regular rotation of crops is observed. Finally, 

 there is the region of sands, Avhich covers more than half of Belgium. It still 

 includes extensive heaths and forests, more especially in the Campine, but upon 

 the whole it is the best-tilled portion of the country. Flanders, now the wealthiest 

 province of Belgium, has been most niggardly dealt with by nature as respects its 

 soil. It is, in fact, a continuation of that barren region, the Campine, and of the wide 

 tract of sand which beyond the Rhine forms the Geest of Hanover and the Heath 

 of Liineburg. And yet w^e speak of the " fat land " of Flanders and its " fields of 

 plenty." But Flanders deserves these epithets, for the labour of man has enriched 

 the originally poor soil, and rendered it productive. Flanders astonishes us by 

 the variety and abundance of its productions. Such results, however, are not 

 achieved without considerable labour and outlay. The Flemish peasants spend 

 annually between 25s. and 35s. an acre in manure, which is far above what is 

 expended in England or Lombardy. The Flemish system of cultivation is 

 gradually encroaching upon the Campine. Pines are planted first, then the 

 woodmen grub up a plot of untilled soil, and introduce a few annuals. In 

 the middle of the century an acre of heath land could be purchased for 4s., 

 whilst now its value is tenfold. The uncultivated tracts of Belgium are 

 extensive, no doubt, but about 7,400,000 acres yield two harvests * a year, 

 and the annual value of the agricultural produce amounts to at least £000,000,000. 

 Land is rapidly increasing in value, and whilst the average cost of an acre 

 was £52 in 1856, it was £08 in 1806, and prices since then have risen con- 

 siderably.! 



The variety of agricultural produce is very great ; still each region devotes 

 itself more or less to some special crop suited to its soil. The Polders produce 

 hay and barley ; Flanders and the Campine rye ; Hesbaye wheat. In the hilly 

 district of Condroz spelt is grown, in the Ardennes oats and rye, whilst in the 

 well -sheltered basin of the Semoy, in the south-east, wheat and fruits are the 

 principal produce. 



Industrial plant'^, including beet-roots, flax, colza, and tobacco, are grown 



* Distribution of the soil of Belgium per cent. : — Corn, 36-3; vegetables, 1-4 ; industrial plants, 4*3 

 roots and fodder, 14-2; meadows and orchards, 13-7; market gardens, 1-4; woods and plantations, 16-8; 

 fallow, 2-0; heath, shrubs, &c.', 9-9. 



t Average value of an acre (1866) : — In the region of loamy bottom-lands, £39 12s.; in Flanders, 

 £82 8s. ; in the Ardennes, £23. The annual rent varied between 17s. and 41s. 



