48 



On the Agriculture of the Netherlands. 



and arched over, leaving a small round opening for the pump, and another 

 sufficient to allow a man to go in to empty out the earthy deposit which 

 accumulates at the bottom. A trap-door shuts over this last aperture to 

 prevent accidents. Sometimes the tank is round like a well,*with a dome 

 top, and so deep in the ground, that it has a foot or two of earth over it. 

 The situation of the tank is either in the farm-yard near the entrance 

 of the cow-house, or immediately behind it : sometimes it is like a cellar 

 under the building ; but this is apt to cause a disagreeable smell in the 

 cow-house. We here describe those tanks which we consider the most 

 convenient : the form and capacity of them vary greatly, according to 

 the means and notions of the proprietors of the farms ; but a tank of 

 some kind or other is considered as indispensable an appendage to a 

 farm as a barn or a cow-house. The farmer would as soon think of dis- 

 pensing with his plough as with his tank : and no expense or trouble is 

 spared to keep it well supplied. 



" The numerous towns and villages in Flanders afford great help in 

 the way of manure. The thrifty housewife and her active substitute the 

 maid know the value of what in our households is thrown away, or wasted 

 and lost. A small tank, or a tub sunk in the ground, in some corner, 

 contains all the liquid which can in any way be useful ; soap-suds, 

 washings of dishes, &c., are carefully kept in this reservoir until, once 

 a week, the farmer or contractor calls with his tub on a cart ; and this, 

 mixed 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 ta»k 

 liquor, which is expensive, and can only be profitable when flax bears 

 a good price, this 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 dis- 

 tilleries. These answer the double purpose of consuming produce and 

 increasing manure by the number of beasts which are fattened on the 

 refuse wash. It is calculated that every beast produces at the rate of 

 10 or 12 tons of dung and 26 hogsheads of urine in the year. A mode- 

 rate distillery has 50 or 60 head of cattle constantly stalled. Here then 

 is a supply of manure for several hundred acres of land every year. 

 Formerly there were a great many distilleries in Flanders, but the duty 

 on spirits and the interference of the government has much reduced 

 their number; so that the farmers complain of the loss of this manure, 

 and the consequent deficiency of their crops 



" Liquid manure is carried to the fields in common water-carts, 

 which consist of two wheels and shafts, carrying a cask containing from 

 60 to 120 gallons of liquid. The cask has in the under part a hole, 2 

 or 3 inches in diameter, secured inside by a valve ; under this is a board 

 a little slanting, to spread the liquid as it flows out of the cask. A man 

 usually rides on the horse which draws the cart, and holds in his hand 

 a string, which passes through a hole in the cask and opens the valve 

 when required. There is an advantage in riding on the horse, as it does 

 not add to the weight of the load on the wheels, which in light soils 

 would be apt to sink deep. In a momentary exertion it assists the horse 



