24 
Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
Again, where there is rich feeding land — irrigated meadow-land 
^bordering a river — as is frequently the case (see p. 66), the pro- 
portion of cows kept becomes a little larger, on account of a 
custom which we shall presently mention. And under a com- 
bination of all these favourable circumstances a small farmer may 
even be bold enough to feed some of his own steers, and work 
them off as what he calls "fat" at 2 years old. No sheep are 
kept on the small farms proper \ but in each commune there is 
generally at least one tenant-farmer or proprietor who finds 
himself called upon to fulfil the duty of keeping a small flock. 
The custom is that the sheep are allowed to run over every- 
body's stubbles, to feed in all the lanes, and in the winter even 
to trespass on other people's pastures ; and in return their owner 
is obliged to keep one or more bulls to serve the cows belonging 
to any little farmer in the commune. 
The custom relating to irrigated meadows, such as border the 
Escaut, is, that any person in certain communes has the right to 
turn his cattle into those fields during the months of September 
and October, that is, after the second hay- harvest. These 
meadows are very valuable, letting at from 80s. to 112s. per 
acre, so that the value of this privilege is considerable. Another 
point is, that the proprietors of these meadows have of late years 
found it more profitable to sell their hay by auction than to let 
the land ; and the small farmers who can afford to keep many 
cows are keen competitors for the purchase of this fodder. 
Under such conditions we found one man who farmed 20 acres 
keeping 4 cows, 3 heifers and yearlings, and 5 steers to be fed 
off at 2 years old. This proportion is 1|^ per hectare, but it is 
impossible to ascertain what is the value of the hay purchased 
off the meadows close by, or of the common-right thereon during 
September and October. It is, however, only the most intelli- 
gent and thrifty men who have arrived at such a knowledge of 
the principles of their business ; and not one small farmer in a 
hundred feeds off a single beast. Cows are kept until they are 
no longer profitable as milkers, or until they can be sold to the 
best advantage, or until money is wanted. They are then sold 
to large farmers, to beet-root sugar makers, or to distillers, in 
the districts of Brabant, Hainaut, Hesbaye, &c., and the usual 
process of beef-manufacture will therefore be more properly 
described as characteristic of la grairde culture. 
The cow-keeping of la -petite culture may be truly described 
as arable land dairying, for the quantity of grass is generally not 
much more than sufficient for an exercise-ground, certainly not 
enough to have much influence on the system of feeding, or the 
method of farming. There are two systems of feeding milch- 
cows — the warm-food system, and the cold-frfod system. The 
former is practised chiefly in the Campine, and to some extent in 
