Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
29 
when the heat begins to be oppressive thej are brought into the 
cow-house, and given clover and haj ; about the middle of the 
day they are milked, and afterwards get more clover or cut grass^ 
Towards sundown they are turned out again until dark, when 
they are brought in, milked the third time, and get some more 
clover the last thing. In the winter their food consists of cut 
turnips and carrots, turnip-tops, oat-straw, hay, and a little rye, or 
when there is no corn, some linseed-cake or cake-meal. In the 
autumn they live to a great extent on the aftermath of the water- 
meadows, but it is the prevailing practice, when a farmer has grass 
of his own, to cut it and give it green in the cow-house, in pre- 
ference to allowing the cows to tramp about the pasture. Under 
this system no food is cooked, nor is any warm drink given ; and 
those who practise it believe that the animals keep in better 
health than on the Campine plan. The 2-year old steers are 
given cake in September, beginning with about 3 lbs. each 
per diem, and gradually increasing to 9 lbs. or 10 lbs.;* and 
they are generally sold in November, weighing from 6 to 7 cwt. 
As a further illustration of the principles of the " cold-food 
system," and especially to show the importance attached to 
" drinks," we shall give the practice pursued by another of the 
best farmers in the light-land region (in East Flanders) on a farm 
of 60 acres. In summer the cows get clover in the stables 
between five o'clock and half-past, and are led about the grass from 
six to ten. At noon they get a drink of cold water, mixed with 
an allowance of half a pint per head of rye-meal, oatmeal, or 
crushed linseed. From 5 to 8 o'clock in the evening in 
summer, and in the autumn from 3 o'clock until 6, they are again 
tethered on the pastures, and during the day are fed chiefly on 
clover. When they come in at night, they get another drink and 
some more clover. The great point is to keep the cows indoors 
during the heat of the day and at night, and to give them plenty 
of liquid food at milking times. In the autumn the evening 
allowance of clover is accompanied with plenty of straw, which 
is regarded as a preventive of the illness which would otherwise 
ensue from eating clover wet with autumn dew. The straw is 
given long, and the cows pick out the best of it. Another 
hygienic point is that linseed iov food is always crushed, but as a 
a medicine it is always given whole. In the winter, on this farm, 
the cows got about half a hundredweight of turnips each three 
times daily, namely, between six and seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing, at noon, and about six in the evening ; they also get the 
drink with the two latter meals, and straw the last thing at night. 
* This farmer fed more liberally than his neighbours, and kept his farm in that 
admirable condition -which we read is general in la petite culture, but which we 
found exceptional. 
