38 
Report on tlie Agriculture of Beltjiinn. 
chaser of any land offered for sale. If we apply these facts to a 
particular example their importance Avill be still more clearly 
seen. Suppose that a little farmer saves 25/. per annum ; at the 
end of ten years he buys an acre of ground, for which he gives 
200Z., the rent value being about 40s. or 45s. per annum. The 
government-tax on his purchase is nearly 7 per cent, viz. 14/., 
and the notary's fees for conveyance amount to 1 per cent., 
viz. 21. He then has 34Z. in hand, which enables him to 
cultivate his new property to the best advantage, besides 
forming the nucleus of a new store : and this is the net result 
of ten years' labour, accompanied by the most rigid frugality. 
One farm-house in the Pays de Waes was pointed out to us as 
an example. Its owner, an old man now, had bought during his 
life about 60 acres of land ; his daily expenses were not more 
than fifteen pence, and a few days previously he had offered 
fifteen thousand francs for another piece of land ! 
IV. — Centeal Belgium — La Geande Culture. 
1. The Farms. — In the greater portion of this division the 
farmhouses invariably present the fortress-like appearance, which 
we have already described and illustrated ; but they are on a 
much larger scale, and the centre of the courtyard is occupied by 
a pool, which receives the draining from the manure-heap made 
around it. The practice is also very general to throw quantities 
of this liquid over the manure from time to time. In this 
respect the treatment of the manure differs essentially from that 
in vogue in the Campine and the Pays de Waes, where the pre- 
cious material is carefully housed. On the Polder-verge of 
both districts, skeleton barns are preferred. Tiie washings of 
the cowhouses and stables are, as usual, conveyed by drains into 
a liquid-manure tank. Some few ffxrmers have a separate system 
of drainage to carry off the rain-water ; but it is surprising how 
few steadings are spouted. In most cases there is no approach 
whatever to an attempt to carry off rain-water, which therefore 
I'uns all over the courtyard, and percolates through the manure- 
heap into the central pond. The farmer seems, indeed, in this 
district, to invite a thorough soaking for his manure. 
Artificial manures are rarely used ; throughout Belgium their 
properties are not understood, even superphosphate being almost 
unknown. All the farmers pin their faith on farmyard manure 
and guano, and everything else " costs too dear." Lime, however, 
is extensively used, especially on the heavier land. Quicklime 
is also used to mix with the compost-heap, which is generally 
turned out every autumn, and put on the land during the winter. 
From the northern limit of this area to the southern, the 
agriculture varies progressively from the standard of the sandy 
