Report on the Arp-iculture of Belgium. 
25 
the Pays de Waes ; but the latter is the more general in the 
remainder of Flanders, except with the smallest farmers. 
Warm-food system. — Before the farmer and his family go to 
bed, they hang a large cauldron over the wood-fire in the capa- 
cious fire-place. In this vessel they put turnip-tops, a few 
turnips, any weeds that may have been gathered, some cut grass, 
a little (very little) rye-meal, a small modicum of rape-cake, and 
a quantity of water, enough to give the cattle (large and small) 
a good drink each. This broth is given lukewarm at five o'clock 
in the morning, after which the cows are milked. In summer, 
at six o'clock, the cows are led about the pasture until eight 
or nine o'clock, when they return to the stables, and get some 
cut grass between that hour and noon. Another allowance 
of soup is then given, and the cows are milked a second time. 
At four o'clock they go into the pasture, having had a little more 
cut grass in the interim, and at seven o'clock they are brought in, 
get some more broth, are milked for the third lime, and finish 
their day with more cut grass. On a farm of 60 acres, which 
was a good representative Campine farm, and where we saw 
9 milch-cows, 2 heifers, and 4 calves (1 beast to 4 acres), 
the cauldron in which this soup was made held 55 gallons. In 
summer it Avas half-filled each time, and in winter it was quite 
fdled, to make up for the deficiency in green food, so that each 
animal got about 2 gallons of soup three times a day in summer, 
and 4 gallons each time in winter.* The allowance of cake and 
meal to these 15 animals was 1^ gallons of rye-meal per day 
in summer, and double the quantity in winter, and a little more 
than 2 lbs. of rape-cake per day (not each, but for the whole of 
them). In winter the other ingredients of the soup are chiefly 
bay and turnips. About the middle of September the cows, 
when out, go on spergula instead of grass, and live as much as 
possible on that food and the soup until the appearance of frost, 
which destroys spurry immediately. Spergula is sown for this 
purpose as a catch-crop after rye, instead of turnips. 
The arrangements for cooking the soup and conveying it en 
masse, while warm, into the cow-house, demand a brief descrip- 
tion, not for their economic value, but because they form a cha- 
racteristic feature of a large portion of the small-farm system. 
They also furnish another illustration of a peculiarity which 
struck us very forcibly — that primitive contrivances entailing 
continuous labour are often resorted to for the purpose of saving 
the first cost of more perfect machinerv. 
There are two plans in vogue in the Campine and some parts 
of Flanders, one known as the Old Campine system, and the 
* It is necessary to remember the liquid nature of the food in estimating the 
quantity and quality of the milk. 
