licjioi l on the xUjricnltiu c oj' Bcljiunt. 
81 
special prizes were awarded to farms of less than 35 acres in 
extent. The first and second jirize farms no doubt produced 
hvrger crops tlian any of the smaller farms in their neighbourhood, 
and the same thing is noticeable in every district. We venture 
to mention the farm of M. Dumont, of Chassart, comprising 
L'jOO acres, and that of M. Van Vinkcroy, of Hasselt, measuring 
."iUO acres, as indubitable instances of the superiority of the large 
farming in both the loamy and the sandy region. In Belgium 
very many large farmers are very bad ones, but, as a rule, the 
smaller farmers in their immediate neighbourhood are still worse. 
Of course there are exceptions. Small farmers generally try to 
do too much, and this peculiarity has led to the prevalent opinion 
that it is possible, under a small-farm system, to produce larger 
crops and to keep more stock than on large farms. They sow 
and plant every crop too thickly, and require double duty from 
land and stock. English farmers will be able to judge for them- 
selves, from what we have described, of the relative amount of 
food consumed by cattle and sheep per head in Belgium and in 
England, and of the value of the animals in each case when sold 
to the butcher. The fact is, that the petit cultivateur keeps as 
many cows as he can for the sake of their manure and their 
butter ; but he not unfrequently half-starves them, although he 
uses as their food all his own grain-crops except wheat. As they 
say in Staffordshire, " If you want more milk sell a cow ! " * 
liventually the cow is sold to the larger farmers, and by them 
made into beef. Practically, la petite culture in Belgium pro- 
duces no meat but pork. Fortunately the small farmers consume 
none. That landlords are advocates of the small-farm svstem is- 
. but natural, because a large number of small holdings tends to- 
raise rents. High rents and low wages are the predominant 
features ol la petite culture, — features which in England would 
be considered anything but commendable. In large-farm districts,, 
as we have shown, rents are relatively lower and wages higher. 
The large farms yield the most surplus food, partly because 
their gross produce is more than that of the small ones, but more 
particularly because they give employment, in proportion, to a 
much smaller number of people, owing to the more extensive 
use of machinery. Which system is most conducive to the 
national prosperity of Belgium ? The reply is, obviously, the 
large-farm system, because it sets free a large number of people 
for employment in other industries, the expansion of which 
seems to be entirely dependent on the supply of labour. When 
a railway is opened in a new district in the Walloon country, 
what is the effect? A man can travel in Belgium 100 miles for 
half- a-crown, so the agricultural labourers go to the manufacturing 
* 'Journal Boyal Agricultural Society,' 2nd Serier, vol. v. p., 271. 
VOL. VI, — S. S. G 
