Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
remarkal)]y well done. Every inch of ground was occupied ; 
and from the number of successfully budded roses and fresh- 
grafted fruit-trees (all destined for sale), as well as from the 
abundance of healthy vegetables of such species as find a ready 
sale in the large towns, we inferred that this piece of ground, 
cultivated during "hours of repose" from the more arduous 
labours of the farm, added no inconsiderable sum to the family 
income. In this garden, and on a patch of ground in the farm, 
we found some of the finest tobacco-plants which we saw in 
Belgium. The young plants are bought at 1 franc per thousand, 
they are carefully planted in well-manured land by the two 
brothers, as soon as all danger from frost has ceased ; and each 
plant is attentively watered with liquid manure from time to 
time. The produce will sell at the rate of 1607. to 200/. per 
hectare (4000 to 5000 kilos, at 1 franc), so that our modest area 
of a quarter of an acre (one-tenth of a hectare) will fetch the 
respectable sum of 16Z. at the lowest estimate. 
The yield of other crops was very large compared with that on 
the average run of small farms, namely, in 1868 : Wheat, 35 bushels 
per acre ; mixture, 40 bushels ; rye, 45 bushels ; colza, 1 ton per 
acre ; potatoes, 8 tons. 
This little farm, remarkable in many respects,* was in none 
more noteworthy than for two implements beyond the ordinary 
plough, harrow, and roller. One of these was a turnip-cutter — 
of primitive construction, certainly ; but it was the only one we 
saw throughout Belgium on so small a farm. Its essential parts 
were — (1) an inclined grating, forming the lower side of the 
hopper which received the turnips ; (2) a wooden roller beneath, 
fitted with a spiral of hoop-iron knives ; and (3) the fly-wheel, 
which had wooden spokes and a hoop-iron rim. There was no 
handle ; but the machine was put into action by turning round 
the fly-wheel by means of the rim in a " hand-over-hand " sort of 
way. Including the wooden frame on which it was set, it cost 
thirty shillings, and was made by the village blacksmith. 
The other " implement " was a waggon. Ordinarily, on even 
large farms as well as small, one sees a heavy three-wheeled 
cart (tumbril) of the clumsiest description. The Belgian waggons 
are immensely long in the body, about one and a half times the 
length of an ordinary English waggon, and very narrow ; the 
fore-wheels are often placed in advance of the head of the waggon, 
and the hind-wheels at the very extremity of the tail, just vot 
projecting beyond it. The waggon on the little farm was 
designed by one of the brothers, and was built in the village 
* The manure was kept in a water-tight midden, out of doors, under the shade 
of some trees ; and it absorbed, therefore, the greater portion of the liquid. 
