BELGIUM. 



From Antiquity east and especially west Flanders has been 

 the home of flax culture of the finest grades where about 60,000 

 hectares (150,000 acres) are cultivated annually which repre- 

 sents 400,000 centners of fiber, worth 60,000,000 francs, giving 

 employment to one-fifth of the population; three-fifths of the 

 Belgian flax is exported, especially the higher grades. The Bel- 

 gium spinneries spin only up to number 100 and 150. The 

 Courtrai flaxes sell for 200 to 400 francs per kilo (18 to 36 cents 

 per pound) and is chiefly used in the manufacture of the finest 

 spinning in Ireland. The cause of the superiority of the quality 

 of Belgian flax depends not only on the superiority of the soil 

 but on all the conditions being especially favorable, as well as the 

 great care exercised by the operators, while the limited area 

 of product stimulates the prices and gives the producer a prac- 

 tical monopoly. 



Cultivation. — The first principle in Belgian flax culture is 

 rotation, spreading over seven or eight years, while subject to 

 mucli variety the following may be given as a sample. Near 

 Courtrai the following is a common rotation: 



Rotation of Crops (8 Years) 



1. Flax, with clover sod subsoiled. 



2. Clover. 



3. Rye, with night soil. 



4. Wheat. 



5. Rape. 



6. Potatoes, with night soil. 



7. Oats. 



8. Chicory, with night soil. 



In West Flanders. 



1. Flax, with night soil. 



2. Rye, with night soil. 



3. Oats and clover. 



4. Clover. 



5. Wheat, with night soil. 



6. Rye. 



7. Potatoes. 



8. Wheat, rye and barley. 



Often beets are sown and recently beets have taken the place 

 of flax in some parts of Belgium, which ;tre always given good 

 stable manure. ( In the fall the fields are plowed, 2.i to 30 cente- 

 metres (8 to 10 inches) deep, and the fields covered with night 

 soil from the city. Large dressings of chemical fertilizers are 

 used on sandy soil. The seed is sown in March and lightly har- 

 rowed and rolled, then weeded twice, pulling carefully at the 

 end of June and beginning of July and is stacked up, allowing 

 the seed to ripen and dry in the bolls after pulling, the fiber is 

 not only preserved by drying but greatly improved. After a 



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