74 
Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
and even some more considerable farmers in Flanders and the 
Campine (the sandj-land district) live just as their labourers do, 
and eat with them. We were frequently told of their custom, 
and more than once saw it. At dinner-time we noticed that the 
potatoes, haricot beans, and buttermilk, with salt and vinegar, 
were placed on an immense platter in the centre of the table, 
with large slices of rye-bread round it; about eight or nine 
people sat down and cleared the platter with remarkable rapidity. 
Frequently they have no separate plates, no knives, forks, or 
spoons ; and each man, woman, or child, uses Nature's imple- 
ments as fast as possible. We saw this on a farm of 60 acres 
in the Campine ; and the party consisted of the farmer and his 
wife, three sons, two maid-servants, and one or two labourers. 
There was no beer on the table ; but many farmers allow them- 
selves that luxury, although they do not give it to their servants 
or labourers. In some parts of Belgium they live much better. 
Indeed, a daily labourer in the Ardennes lives far better than an 
ordinary well-to-do -petit cultivateur. But this is the secret of his 
being "well-to-do." 
Harvesting is not generally done as piece-work, but during 
harvest-time wages rise considerably, probably in most cases as 
much as 50 per cent.* In winter, however, work is scarce, except 
in sugar-beet districts ; and on the small farms, in particular, 
there is no work at all for day labourers. As each labourer, 
however, is also a jyetit cultivateur, and "farms" from a quarter 
of an acre upwards, growing potatoes, rye, and carrots, more 
especially ; and keeping either a cow, a pig, or a goat, according 
to his means, this hardship is not felt so keenly as it otherwise 
would be, because he manages to get through the winter on the 
rye-bread, potatoes, and carrots, of his own growing. 
The culture of the bit of land devolves chielly on the wife, 
who works quite as hard as the husband, — sometimes harder. 
The man and the children also help when they have time — for 
the true Fleming is never tired of working^b?' himself. He must 
keep some animal as a manure-maker, say a pig, or a couple of 
goats. Every penny is hoarded, and every luxury denied, to 
enable him to buy a cow. Once he has a cow he may be said 
to commence a new existence, and many men who die the owners 
* M. Leclerc states that labourers engaged by the year are not paid the balance 
of their wages at harvest-iime. Daily labourers get at this period as much as 
3 or 4 fraucs (2s. 5(L to 3s. '2d.) per diem ; and in districts where harvesting is 
done by piece-woik they earn from 5 to G francs (4s. to 4s. i)d.) per diem. 
Threshing by the flail is often paid for as piece-work, in Jdiid, at the rate of one- 
sixteenth of the quantity threshed. For some years past it has been possible to 
hire threshing-machines, which go from farm to farm, paying from 4 to 5 francs 
per 1000 kilos. (3s. 2d. to 4s pur ton i of threshed grain. At the present time there 
are about 40 of such machines in Belgium. 
