6 
Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
The plateau of tlie Ardennes is studded with mountain-crests, 
where the climate is more severe than in the remainder of the 
region ; but otherwise, while the mean summer temperature is 
the same as in Flanders, viz. 63^ Fahr., the mean winter tempe- 
rature is not less than 7" lower, being 30^ Fahr. Snow falls 
generally on 30 days every year, or just twice as many as in 
Northern Belgium ; it freezes on no less than 80 days every 
year, or 30 more than in the sandy zone ; but it does not rain 
on more than 150 days in the year, or 40 less than in Flanders, 
although the quantity is more considerable, reaching as much 
as 40 inches per annum. The geology of the country south of 
the Meuse is highly interesting to the student of science, but for 
agricultural purposes it is sufficient to state that the surface con- 
sists of very strong land, having a varying depth, frequently as 
much as 2 feet, and resting upon highly contorted beds of lime- 
stone or schist, belonging to the Carboniferous, Devonian, and 
Silurian periods. 
II. The Sandy District of Northern Belgium: — 
La Petite Culture. 
1. The Land. — Although the soil of this district consists 
almost entirely of sand, it nevertheless possesses differences of 
quality which have determined the comparative prosperity of tire 
localities in which they occur. The best land occurs in the Pays 
de Waes, and the worst, probably, in the extreme eastern part of 
the Campine. Naturally, cultivation was commenced where the 
soil was most promising ; and hence, in the Pays de Waes, 
the population is most dense, the farms and the properties are 
most divided, and the rents are the highest. To bring the 
remainder of the region into cultivation, all of it being naturally 
more or less barren, required time, money, and, more than all, 
labour. The process adopted was recorded forty years ago by 
M. Van Aelbroeck, in his work, ' L'Agriculture pratique de la 
Flandre,' and is nearly identical with what we saw actually in 
progress near Hasselt in the Campine, where M. Van Vinkeroy 
has brought under cultivation about 550 acres in the midst of a 
region of pure white blowing sand, growing nothing but 
heather. 
To enable our readers to understand the process, it is necessary 
to dig a little beneath the surface. The strata are not more than 
a few inches each in thickness, and consist of the following beds 
in descending order : — 
1. Nearly pure white sand, from 6 to 7 inches. 
2. Blackish sand ,, 7 to 8 inches, 
3. Ochreous sand thickness unknown. 
