776 



BELGIUM. 



practice, many of the modem improvements not having been adopted. But this system of hus- 

 bandry, after supplying the most dense population of Europe, with the standard productions of 

 the soil, yields several articles, such as madder, rape, clover, mustard seeds, hops, &c , for 

 exportation. 



Mustard. Madder. Foxtail Grass. 



Florin Grass. Spike Fescue Grass. Cats' -Tail Grass. 



10. Commerce and Manufactures. In the 14th century the Flemish were one of the most 

 commercial and manufacturing people of Europe. Bruges, and, afterwards, Antwerp, were 

 the centres of an extensive commerce, which finally passed mostly into the hands of the Dutch. 

 Manufacturing industry is the branch in which the Belgic provinces formerly most excelled and 

 in which their decay is most conspicuous. Three centuries ago the linens and woolens of 

 Ghent, Louvain, Brussels, and Mechlin, clothed the higher ranks in all the surrounding coun- 

 tries. Since that time, the fabrics of France and England have attained such a superiority, and 

 are at once so cheap and so well suited to the taste of the age, that the Low Countries' manu- 

 factures cannot sustain a competition. There are still, however, some fine linen fabrics, laces, 

 lawns, and cambrics, in which they continue unrivaled. The linens of Flanders, the lace of 

 Brussels and Mechlin, the woolens of Verviers and Mechhn, the smoking-pipes of Gonda, and 

 the cutlery and hardware of Namur and Liege, are among the products of Belgian industry. 



11. Inhabitants. The Belgians are in part Flemings, of German origin, and in part Wal- 

 loons, of the Latin race, and closely allied to the French. The former resemble the Dutch 



