20 
Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
anxiety is probably justified by the slight additional severity of 
the Flemish winter ; and spring sowing is most in vogue on the 
large farms in the Ardennes, where the climate is too severe for 
any crop but spelt to resist the cold of winter and early spring. 
The catch-crop grown in the wheat is sown either at the same 
time as the corn, or in February, according to the fancy of the 
farmer ; but in the last named month the seed must be sown ; 
rain, hail, or even feet of snow will not prevent it, and the roots 
are said to flourish quite as well when the seed is sown under 
unpropitious meteorologic influences, as when it is got in during 
the finest weather. It may be as well to mention here that on 
the small Flemish farms everything is sown broadcast; only the 
most advanced proprietors possess a drill, while the majority of 
ordinary farmers are as ignorant of the implement as their 
language is oblivious of its name. This fact necessarily in- 
fluences the after treatment of wheat and other crops; for 
instance, horse-hoes are all but unknown, and even hand-hoeing, 
as we understand it, is never practised. Weeding is done by 
troops of women, who crawl about the fields on their hands and 
knees, pulling up weeds and singling the useful plants. Top- 
dressings are also unknown. Harvesting is done in various 
ways : if carrots have been sown in the wheat or rye, the straw 
is pulled up by the roots, otherwise it is cut with either a scythe 
or hook. The yield of wheat obtained by the best small farmers 
in the Pays de Waes in a good year, such as 1868, is about 
30 bushels per acre ; but the ordinary " petit cultivateur " gets 
very much less. In 1868 the average yield of the wheat crop in 
the kingdom of Belgium was 24 bushels per acre; but the 
average of the Province of Hainault (a large farm district) was 
in the same year as much as 27 bushels per acre. These figures 
must not, however, be taken to represent what we should term 
"dressed corn," but the total yield previous to the very imperfect 
dressing which the grain receives. The quality is also very 
poor, the colour is high, smut and bunt are very prevalent,* and 
the weight rarely much exceeds 60 lbs. the Imperial bushel. 
The wheat having been pulled up, the carrots remain, and, 
favoured by a climate remarkable for warm and prolonged 
autumns, they grow rapidly. They remain in the ground until 
frosts commence, when they are pulled, and stored indoors for 
winter use, both men and beasts being largely fed on them. 
A good crop of carrots in wheat will weigh about 8 tons per 
acre, but in flax they yield a larger crop. Where many carrots 
are grown, a few draft cows are fed off, as these roots are found 
more productive of fat than milk. They are used largely for pigs, 
* The use of sulphate of copper, or other preparation for dressing wheat, is all 
but unknown in Belgium. 
