yielded by wheat or rye, in money or grain, and that a good farmer ought not to require a course devoted to the purpose of killing weeds. As a rule, the land is ploughed in winter, and then left until spring, when it will receive about two more ploughings, harrowings, and rollings. The seed is sown late in the spring, after all danger from frosts has passed; and the crop is harvested in September, yielding about 16 bushels per acre on the average. 7. Stock. Hitherto la petite culture has probably been even more celebrated amongst Englishmen for the number of head of cattle said to be kept on a given area, than for any other phase in its economy. We were told by an intelligent and well-read member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, that the small farmers keep a cow and one younger beast (either heifer, yearling, or calf) to every hectare (2 acres) of land. As this was nearly double the number of head of cattle we had found on any farm in Belgium, we were particularly desirous of ascertaining under what circumstances and by what treatment the land could be rendered capable of sustaining so large a number of stock. Ultimately we found that the establishment was attached to a workhouse, which contained 14 old men, 10 old women, and 6 children. The stock consisted of 4 cows, 1 working ox, 1 heifer, and 3 calves, and the extent of ground was 4 hectares, making exactly 2 beasts to 1 hectare. Now it was of great importance to produce milk and butter for the use of the establishment, as well as a surplus for sale; and whatever deficiency occurred in the supply of food yielded by the farm, either for man or beast, was bought with money supplied by the commune, or earned by the women and children in working flax (the old men did the field work). No rent and no wages were paid. Under these circumstances it seemed to us equally just to say that two head of cattle were kept on each hectare of land, as to say that the thirty human beings were also fed by the produce of the farm. We quote this little episode to show that statements made in good faith, by even well-informed men, must, in the absence of positive proof, be frequently received with some caution. The usual number of stock kept on the light-land farms is in the proportion of 2 cows, 1 heifer, and 1 yearling or calf to every 4 hectares (10 acres) of ground. When calves are sold off very young, and only cows in full milk are kept, the proportion is about 2 cows to 3 hectares (7 acres). When a man is the proprietor of his farm, has a comparative abundance of capital to enable him to purchase food, &c., and is so situated that his milk and butter find a ready sale at good prices in the neighbouring towns, it pays him better to sell those products obtained by what amounts to an extension of his farm, than to keep the money thus employed lying idle until he can buy more land. Again, where there is rich feeding land-irrigated meadow-land bordering a river-as is frequently the case (see p. 66), the proportion of cows kept becomes a little larger, on account of a custom which we shall presently mention. And under a combination of all these favourable circumstances a small farmer may even be bold enough to feed some of his own steers, and work them off as what he calls "fat" at 2 years old. No sheep are kept on the small farms proper; but in each commune there is generally at least one tenant-farmer or proprietor who finds himself called upon to fulfil the duty of keeping a small flock. The custom is that the sheep are allowed to run over everybody's stubbles, to feed in all the lanes, and in the winter even to trespass on other people's pastures; and in return their owner is obliged to keep one or more bulls to serve the cows belonging any little farmer in the commune. to The custom relating to irrigated meadows, such as border the Escaut, is, that any person in certain communes has the right to turn his cattle into those fields during the months of September and October, that is, after the second hay-harvest. These meadows are very valuable, letting at from 80s. to 112s. per acre, so that the value of this privilege is considerable. Another point is, that the proprietors of these meadows have of late years found it more profitable to sell their hay by auction than to let the land; and the small farmers who can afford to keep many COWS are keen competitors for the purchase of this fodder. Under such conditions we found one man who farmed 20 acres keeping 4 cows, 3 heifers and yearlings, and 5 steers to be fed off at 2 years old. This proportion is 1 per hectare, but it is impossible to ascertain what is the value of the hay purchased off the meadows close by, or of the common-right thereon during September and October. It is, however, only the most intelligent and thrifty men who have arrived at such a knowledge of the principles of their business; and not one small farmer in a hundred feeds off a single beast. Cows are kept until they are no longer profitable as milkers, or until they can be sold to the best advantage, or until money is wanted. They are then sold to large farmers, to beet-root sugar makers, or to distillers, in the districts of Brabant, Hainaut, Hesbaye, &c., and the usual process of beef-manufacture will therefore be more properly described as characteristic of la grande culture. The cow-keeping of la petite culture may be truly described as arable land dairying, for the quantity of grass is generally not much more than sufficient for an exercise-ground, certainly not enough to have much influence on the system of feeding, or the method of farming. There are two systems of feeding milchcows-the warm-food system, and the cold-food system. The former is practised chiefly in the Campine, and to some extent in the Pays de Waes; but the latter is the more general in the remainder of Flanders, except with the smallest farmers. Warm-food system.-Before the farmer and his family go to bed, they hang a large cauldron over the wood-fire in the capacious fire-place. In this vessel they put turnip-tops, a few turnips, any weeds that may have been gathered, some cut grass, a little (very little) rye-meal, a small modicum of rape-cake, and a quantity of water, enough to give the cattle (large and small) a good drink each. This broth is given lukewarm at five o'clock in the morning, after which the cows are milked. In summer, at six o'clock, the cows are led about the pasture until eight or nine o'clock, when they return to the stables, and get some cut grass between that hour and noon. Another allowance of soup is then given, and the cows are milked a second time. At four o'clock they go into the pasture, having had a little more cut grass in the interim, and at seven o'clock they are brought in, get some more broth, are milked for the third time, and finish their day with more cut grass. On a farm of 60 acres, which was a good representative Campine farm, and where we saw 9 milch-cows, 2 heifers, and 4 calves (1 beast to 4 acres), the cauldron in which this soup was made held 55 gallons. In summer it was half-filled each time, and in winter it was quite filled, to make up for the deficiency in green food, so that each animal got about 2 gallons of soup three times a day in summer, and 4 gallons each time in winter.* The allowance of cake and meal to these 15 animals was 1 gallons of rye-meal per day in summer, and double the quantity in winter, and a little more than 2 lbs. of rape-cake per day (not each, but for the whole of them). In winter the other ingredients of the soup are chiefly hay and turnips. About the middle of September the cows, when out, go on spergula instead of grass, and live as much as possible on that food and the soup until the appearance of frost, which destroys spurry immediately. Spergula is sown for this purpose as a catch-crop after rye, instead of turnips. The arrangements for cooking the soup and conveying it en masse, while warm, into the cow-house, demand a brief description, not for their economic value, but because they form a characteristic feature of a large portion of the small-farm system. They also furnish another illustration of a peculiarity which struck us very forcibly-that primitive contrivances entailing continuous labour are often resorted to for the purpose of saving the first cost of more perfect machinery. There are two plans in vogue in the Campine and some parts of Flanders, one known as the Old Campine system, and the It is necessary to remember the liquid nature of the food in estimating the quantity and quality of the milk. other as the New. The former is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and the latter in Fig. 4, which also gives an idea of the arrangement Fig. 2.-Plan of part of a Campine Farm-steading, illustrating the old method of cooking Food for Cows. Fig. 4. Plan of a Campine Farm-steading, illustrating the modern method of cooking Food for Cows. of the farm-house. The cooking apparatus consists of a ponderous wooden crane, the shaft of which works in a socket in the *The steadings in the Campine have not the quadrangular arrangement illustrated on p. 11; they consist of but two buildings, generally placed at a right angle to each other; one is shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and the other is simply a large barn and woodhouse. There is no separate midden or manure-house, the dung being simply thrown behind the cows, or sometimes carried to the far end of the cowhouse. |