Rrport on tlie Ai/riculture of Belgium. 
33 
gets a heavy dressing of iruinuie, ami is sown with rye, which is 
followed after harvest by stubble-turnips. We thus return again 
to the potato-course, in the preparation of the land for which the 
spade is used as already described. One-tenth part of this course 
is sown with flax and carrots, the land being prepared for it Avith 
extreme care, so as to obtain a perfectly fine and even tilth. The 
flax (Riga) and carrot-seeds are sown together, from the begin- 
ning of March until the end of April, according to the weather, 
but the sooner they are got in the better. A few mangolds are 
also sown in this course. 
The stock kept consists of three milch-cows,* and two pigs 
fattened for home use. In summer the cows are fed on clover 
and grass, mostly given cut in the stable ; they also have a drink 
which consists of nearly a quart of linseed, 4 or 5 lbs. of rye- 
meal, and 20 quarts of water boiled with a certain quantity of 
mangold-tops. This is enough for two drinks for three cows, so 
that each cow gets something less than a gallon each time. The 
first drink is given at 7 o'clock in the morning, and the other at 
4 or 5 o'clock in the evening. When the cows are at work they 
get, in addition, three meals of rye-bread per day, the quantity 
given being 2 lbs. per head each time. In the winter they each 
get a daily allowance of nearly 4 bushels of turnips and 1 lb. of 
meal. One-half the turnips are boiled, the meal is mixed with 
water, and the whole, including the uncooked remainder of the 
tuinips, is mixed together and given to the cows in two equal 
portions, one in the morning and one at night. If a cow has 
been an unsatisfactory milker during the summer, or when one 
gets beyond the most profitable limit of age, carrots are given 
instead of turnips in the autumn and winter, and with this simple 
alteration in the diet the cow is fattened for the butcher. 
Pigs are usually bought at 4 weeks old, or thereabouts, at 
prices varying from 4s. to IG5. They are fed with boiled 
potatoes, rye or wheat-meal, and buttermilk mixed together, and 
they are given as much as they can eat. They are killed at 10 
or 12 months old, weighing from 20 to 24 score, and the meat is 
kept for household use, butcher's meat not forming an item in 
the dietary of the family. 
The grass-land is manured every March with either liquid 
manure or guano; it is mown in July, and a great part of the 
aftermath is grazed, the remainder being soiled. Nearly a ton 
and a half of guano is bought yearly for this little farm. Of 
the garden culture we shall say nothing, except that it was 
* The proportion here is one cow to Z\ acres ; but no food for them or the pigs 
is VoiKjht ; they are entirely fed on the produce of the farm. 
VOL. VI. — S. S. D 
