Report on the Agriculture of Belgium. 
75 
of several hectares of land commenced life and got on precisely 
in this manner. They never invest in any security but land, 
and, until the opportunity of purchasing arrives, the money is 
carefully secreted. 
Labourers' cottages vary in Belgium, and in different parts of 
the country, to as great an extent as they do in England ; but we 
may state generally that the rents are from 'dd. to 18rf. per week, 
according to the district and the quantity of land attached. The 
labourers are generally enabled to hire other land in consequence 
of the custom, prevalent in and near most towns, of letting allot- 
ments by auction, either for a year or a term of years (generally 
three). The plan and section annexed illustrate the structure of 
a model cottage (one of a pair), several pairs of which have been 
built in the Campine by a large landed proprietor. The cottages 
cost 64/. per pair, and they have each about three-quarters of an 
acre of land attached, the rent for the whole being one franc 
(V'Jc?.) per week, which is extremely cheap.* These cottages have 
each two bed-cupboards opening into a common living-room, 
and a kind of loft, without chimney or window, yclept a "bed- 
room, ;" they are built on arches, instead of concrete foundations. 
3. Poor-relief and Parochial Affairs. — To describe completely 
the institutions for the relief of the poor, and for the education 
and maintenance of pauper children, would occupy a whole 
number of the 'Journal.' We must, therefore, be contented to 
state that, with the exception of the charitable institutions in the 
old Flemish cities of mediaeval renown, poor-relief is under the 
entire control of the Minister of the Interior.! There is no actual 
poor-rate in Belgium, and all the institutions for the relief of able- 
bodied tramps are expected to be conducted with little or no cost 
to the State. The principle of management is simply to make 
every pauper work hard and live harder, and to charge the com- 
mune to which he belongs with the cost of his maintenance. 
* M. Leclerc states that the rent of a labourer's cottage in rural districts is 
from ll. to 8/. per annum, according to its size; but that in the poor parts of the 
country a similar cottage could be got for about 488. per annum. The general 
custom in Belgium is, that each family has a separate habitation even in the 
towns, and in the conntry one never finds a number of families in one house. 
Every family in rural districts has a kitchen-garden, and ^ery frequently a small 
field, wliich produce potatoes and grain for family consumption. These gardens 
and fields are hired. 
t On this Lead M. Leclerc states : — '• The poor are relieved by the hureaux de 
bienfnisance, or public relieving offices, in the rural parishes. In towns there 
are, besides the bureaux de bienfaimnce, hospital - boards (administrations de 
I'hospice). These two institutions, which are under the control of the Govern- 
ment, have for the most part — the hospital-boards {admiin4ratioris de I hospice) 
alwaj s— properties of more or less importance resulting from donations, legacies, 
&c. Tlie bureaux de hienfaisance are subsidised by the parishes when they have 
no longer sufficient resources. Several hospital-boards, those for example at 
Brussels, Nivelles, and Namur, are very rich; and cannot find ways to employ all 
their revenues. " 
