1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
73 
Flanders and Belgium. —In Flanders, both Belgian and French, 
you are probably prepared for an admission on my part, of great ag¬ 
ricultural skill and success. I am compelled, however, to confess 
my own impression to be, that a great portion of what has been 
written upon Flemish husbandry, partakes of the character of a ro¬ 
mance.* * The cultivators of Belgian Flanders have the merit of 
raising fair crops from certain tracts of poor and sandy soil, of hus¬ 
banding and applying manures so as to keep such land in culture, 
and of skillfully varying their crops so as to prevent a premature ex¬ 
haustion. But no knowledge of the general principles of agriculture 
is widely diffused among them. The improvement of wet and of 
heavy clay soils, except by open ditches, is almost unknown. Im¬ 
proved implements and thorough drainage, and modern inodes of 
manuring, and some small instruction at least in the elements of sci¬ 
ence as applied to agriculture, have still to be introduced among 
them, before they can rank in general knowledge or in skilful prac- 
practice with the farmers of Scotland or England. 
And, indeed, in Belgium as in France, the progressive subdivision 
of property opposes a growing obstacle to that general amelioration 
of agricultural practice, which the wants of a numerous people, and 
the progress of knowledge demand. Where the average extent of 
properties and farms over a whole province is already reduced to 
about an English acre, we cannot look for the introduction of any 
of those improvements which demand the purchase of new or com¬ 
paratively costly implements, the rearing and feeding of multitudes 
of stock, the employment of hired labor, or generally the applica¬ 
tion of capital to the land. As in Ireland, the subdivision or morcel- 
ling of the tillage farms, has already, in whole districts, been car¬ 
ried to the starvation limit. As into Ireland, the potato failure brought 
with it into Belgian Flanders, famine and disease, and large emigra¬ 
tion,.—and notwithstanding all that wise governments can do, it is to 
be feared that on the recurrence of similar visitations, similar social 
evils will in both countries again re-appear. 
France. —In France I need hardly inform you that practical ag¬ 
riculture is far in arrear. In Normandy, the mixture of Teutonic 
blood has probably some connection with the superiority of the hus¬ 
bandry of this province as compared with most of the other parts of 
the kingdom. It is certain at least, that notwithstanding the many 
efforts made by persons in pow 7 er to promote the introduction and 
adoption of better methods, the general farming of La Belle France 
advances with comparative slowness. 
This country indeed presents another striking instance of the small 
connection which may exist between the existence of extensive 
means of agricultural instruction, provided by the central govern¬ 
ment, and the practical skill of the rural population. 
In 1843 there existed in Frane one hundred and fifty-seven agricul¬ 
tural societies—six hundred and sixty-four agricultural committees 
—twenty-two model farms, some of which had schools attached to 
them—and fifteen schools and chairs of agriculture and agricultural 
penitentiaries. In the early part of 1849, under the auspices of the 
republican government, and as part of the plan of M. Fouret, then 
Minister of Agriculture, twenty-one farming schools had already 
been opened—a national agricultural university was about to be es¬ 
tablished on the farms in the little park of Versailles, and a hundred 
and twenty-two agricultural societies, and three hundred minor in¬ 
stitutions, had participated in the funds voted for the encouragement 
of Agriculture. 
Though it is unquestionable that a country may attain a high rank 
in agriculture without the aid of formal agricultural schools—provi¬ 
ded, as in Scotland, other early mental training is placed within the 
easy reach of the rural population—and that in spite of numerous 
schools, if other obstacles intervene, the cultivators of a country may 
lag far behind;—yet both common sense and experience show that 
of two nations of the same blood, placed otherwise in the same cir¬ 
cumstances, the one which teaches the principles of agriculture in 
its schools, will exhibit the most productive harvests on its fields; 
and that as in England and Scotland now, a time will come in the 
agricultural history of every country, when old means and methods 
will fail to maintain the rural community in a nourishing condition, 
and when every new means of fertility which advancing knowledge 
can supply, must be made generally known, and become generally 
employed. Such are the simplest and most common sense arguments 
in favor of agricultural teaching—the inutility of.which might be 
argued with some show of reason, from the comparatively small pro¬ 
gress yet visible among the fields and farmers of France and Bava¬ 
ria. 
The agricultural statistics of France, which the government has 
collected and published in great detail, would supply many interest¬ 
ing subjects of reflection, were I at liberty to dwell longer on this 
part of Europe. I may only mention—as pregnant with thought and 
instruction in regard to the condition, the food, and the general mode 
of living of the rural classes of France—the fact ; that the number of 
conscripts who are rejected on account of deficient health, strength 
and stature, is constantly on the increase; that forty percent are 
turned back from this cause ; and that though since 1789 the standard 
has been three times reduced, as large a proportion of the conscripts is 
below the required height, (now five feet two inches,) as ever.—Ru- 
bichon. Such facts as this show how closely the discussion of agri¬ 
culture is connected with that of the most profound social evils." 
Switzerland. —To Switzerland, I only allude as one of those 
countries in which the influence of natural intelligence and a fan- 
share of early instruction, has been brought to bear most success¬ 
fully on the improvement of the soil, and especially of the breeds of 
stock which are best adapted to its peculiar dairy husbandry. Those 
advances which require the application of capital and science, such 
Memorie sul Bonificamente delle Maremmc Tuscane , by Fernando 
Tarlini, Florence, 183S. 
* VAgriculture Pratique de la Flandre , par M. J. L. Van Ael- 
broeck, Paris, 1830; and Memoire sur VAgriculture de la Flandre 
Francaise et sur VEconomic RurcUe, par J. Cordier, Paris, 1823. 
as thorough draining and special manuring, are there, however, still 
unmade; and it Wilt probably be many years, before, in these re* 
spects, the cultivators of the Swiss valleys and mountain slopes, can 
closely imitate the present improved practices of the British Islands. 
Spain. —The agricultural condition of Spain suggests melancholy 
reflections. The central table lands of this country* are reckoned 
among the first wheat growing districts in the world. The culture 
is rude and imperfect. The soil is scratched with a primitive plow, 
and is seldom manured, yet the returns are said to be prodigious, and 
the quality of the grain excellent. But where nature does much, 
man too often contents himself with doing little. Amid all this plen¬ 
ty, the peasant is miserable. lie lives in a cabin of baked mud, or 
iu burrows scooped out from the friable hillocks, ignorant of the 
luxury of furniture, and barely possessing the necessaries of life. 
The want of roads and of means of easy transport, makes his pro¬ 
duce almost worthless, so that a comparatively spare population ex¬ 
ists, and much wretchedness in the centre of fertile fields and a land 
abundant in corn. 
We sometimes think ourselves unfortunate to have been born, or 
to be doomed to live where clouded suns impart a lessened light and 
heat; or where the frosts of winter bind up for many months the 
hardened earth. Yet in such climes, man more really lives, and ex¬ 
ercises a truer dominion over inanimate things, than where tropical 
skies appear to prepare for him an unceasing enjoyment. Where 
mind and mental energy are dormant, he only vegetates or exercises 
his brute passions. Where by perpetual struggles he subdues the ad¬ 
verse elements, bends circumstances to his will, forces a copious 
abundance from an unwilling soil and in spite of inclement seasons 
—there he most truly lives, and amidst his hardships enjoys life most; 
there refreshing sleep visits him with her balmiest breath, and in the 
power of mind over matter, which his success display's:, he brings out 
more clearly the claim of man to a likeness with Him who is all 
mind, and to whose slightest intimation all matter bends. 
Great Britain. —In striking contrast to the case of Spain, is the 
agriculture of the Island in which I was born, and from which so 
many of your forefathers have come. I need not tell you of our un¬ 
certain climate—our fickle sky, our frequent rains, our late frosts in 
spring, our early frosts in autumn, the cold winds and temperate suns 
of our most favoring summer, the mists and fogs that settle over us 
at every season of the year. I only remind you of these things, and 
ask you to contrast with them the large crops we can reap, the high 
rents we can pay, the poor lands we have enriched, the local climate 
we have ameliorated, the wide wastes we have subdued beneath the 
plow, the northern districts we have tamed down to the production 
of wheat, the large population we have reared, and in ordinary sea¬ 
sons are still able to feed, and—amid all the croakings and complaints 
of individuals and classes—the vast amount of material comfort and 
of intellectual elevation which the island exhibits. How much kind¬ 
er, on the whole, the Deity has really been to us than to prolific and 
sunny Spain ; how much better our fortunes as a people, how much 
happier our individual lot! 
Practical Improvements in Great Britain. —Among the 
greatest of those practical improvements in the treatment of the land , 
by means of which British agriculture lias been advanced to its pre¬ 
sent condition, I may mention : 
1st. The alternate husbandry —a judicious rotation of crops. In 
this walk Flanders was probably the earliest among modern Euro¬ 
pean countries to make decided and important advances. 
2d. The introduction of thorough drainage. —To a certain extent 
and in a certain way, under drains have been made in almost every 
country of Europe, and are at least as old as the time of the Romans. 
Eut the necessity and almost universal profit of the system as it is 
now understood and practiced, was first demonstrated in Scotland, 
and owes its general introduction to Mr. Smith, of Deanston. 
3d. As the complement of thorough drainage, the introduction of 
deep and sub-soil plowing. These practices have renovated shallow 
worn out soils, by bringing up new materials ; have opened a pas¬ 
sage for the roots to descend deeper in search of food; and have pro¬ 
vided a more ready outlet of surface water into the drains below. 
4th. The judicious and continued application of Lime—according 
to principles now beginning to be generally understood. When ap¬ 
plied without the requisite knowledge, or without regard to future 
consequences, the use of lime has been, and will still be, one of the 
most ready means of exhausting the most fertile soils. 
5th. The use of Bones —in various forms, as an application to land 
in various conditions, and for the growth of various crops. 
6 th. Generally, what is called high farming, comprehending: 
a. The culture of green crops extensively. 
b. The making of rich home, and the purchase of valuable foreign 
manures of various kinds to a great extent. 
c. The rearing and feeding of improved breeds of stock, for the 
conversion of one form of produce into another, which meets with 
a readier market, or is otherwise more profitable. 
d. The custom of fullfeeding, both for plants and animals, from 
early youth to full maturity. 
It is the characteristic of this kind of farming, that it spares no rea¬ 
sonable expense—in implements, in manures, in labor—as all expe¬ 
rience has shown that a liberal treatment of the land, makes the land 
liberal in return; and that to the stingy farmer, the land is most nig¬ 
gard of her crops. 
7th. The introduction of lighter and better contrived implements , of 
machines to economise labor, and of horses having a quicker step. 
Such are generally the practical methods or processes by which 
British agriculture has been advanced to its present condition. 
* The two elevated plains of New and Old Castile, and that of La 
Mancha, separated from each other by the granites and metamorphic 
rocks of the Sierra Nevada, are composed of a white limestone, oc¬ 
casionally covered with the drift of other rocks. These plains are 
burned up in summer, so as to yield no grass till the October rains 
fall, but they yield magnificent crops of wheat. (Sir E. Head.) 
