the Pays de Waes; but the latter is the more general in the remainder of Flanders, except with the smallest farmers.

soup

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 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.

Fig. 3.

Sketch of the Interior of the Living room in a Campine Farm-steading, illustrating the old method of cooking Food for Cows (see plan, fig. 2).

floor, and in an eye projecting from the back wall of the livingroom; the position of the shaft is nearly equidistant between the fire-place and the door leading to the cow-house, but nearer the latter. The arm of the crane is made as long as possible, with a view of its carrying the cauldron into the cowhouse, even at the expense of the necessity of "fending" it off from the projecting corner of the entrance-lobby near the fireplace. From the end of this arm the cauldron is suspended by a chain at the upper portion, attached to an iron screw-rod which works into a female screw in the centre of the cauldron-handle. By this arrangement the cauldron can be raised or lowered, as required, by turning it round a few times. In this system it will be seen that the fire-place is situated at the end of the living room opposite to the door leading into the cow-house.

In the Modern Campine system the fire-place is at the other end of the living room, and the entrance to the cow-house is through a small iron door at the back of it. Therefore, instead of the enormous crane just noticed, only a small but strong iron bracket is required; this is attached close to where the door opens, and is sufficient to swing the cauldron from the fire to the cow-house, or vice versâ. The only relative disadvantage possessed by this system is a real danger, namely, of fire; for with the least draught the incandescent wood-ashes, being very light, are liable to be blown on to the straw and other easily inflammable materials in the cow-house. The small farmers are convinced that the cooking consumes little or no fuel, because it is done immediately after the preparation of their own meals!

On what are termed "model" farms, where the account of "profit and loss" is omitted from the ledger, one frequently sees steaming and boiling apparatus of the most extensive and ingenious description; but in la petite culture cooking for cows is generally done in one of the two ways which we have described; while the labourer-farmers are, of course, reduced to the use of the simple saucepan.

The cold-food system is practised by some of the most intelligent of the small farmers, by many proprietors, and on most large farms. In illustration of it we shall describe the treatment of both cows and younger beasts, as well as feeding steers, as practised on one of the best farms in the Pays de Waes. This farm of 20 acres is the one to which we have referred as maintaining 4 cows, 3 heifers and calves, and 5 feeding beasts, assisted by hay bought off the water-meadows, and by the common-right to the aftermath during September and October. The cows are milked about five o'clock in the morning, and go out between five and six on to the little bit of pasture belonging to the farm

;

they are

* and

when the heat begins to be oppressive they are brought into the cow-house, and given clover and hay; about the middle of the day they are milked, and afterwards get more clover or cut grass. Towards sundown they are turned out again until dark, when they are brought in, milked the third time, and get some more clover the last thing. In the winter their food consists of cut turnips and carrots, turnip-tops, oat-straw, hay, and a little rye, or when there is no corn, some linseed-cake or cake-meal. In the autumn they live to a great extent on the aftermath of the watermeadows, but it is the prevailing practice, when a farmer has grass of his own, to cut it and give it green in the cow-house, in preference to allowing the cows to tramp about the pasture. Under this system no food is cooked, nor is any warm drink given; and those who practise it believe that the animals keep in better health than on the Campine plan. The 2-year old steers are given cake in September, beginning with about 3 lbs. each per diem, and gradually increasing to 9 lbs. or 10 lbs. ; generally sold in November, weighing from 6 to 7 cwt. As a further illustration of the principles of the "cold-food system," and especially to show the importance attached to "drinks," we shall give the practice pursued by another of the best farmers in the light-land region (in East Flanders) on a farm In summer the cows get clover in the stables between five o'clock and half-past, and are led about the grass from At noon they get a drink of cold water, mixed with an allowance of half a pint per head of rye-meal, oatmeal, or crushed linseed. From 5 to 8 o'clock in the evening in summer, and in the autumn from 3 o'clock until 6, they are again tethered on the pastures, and during the day are fed chiefly on clover. When they come in at night, they get another drink and some more clover. The great point is to keep the cows indoors during the heat of the day and at night, and to give them plenty of liquid food at milking times. In the autumn the evening allowance of clover is accompanied with plenty of straw, which is regarded as a preventive of the illness which would otherwise ensue from eating clover wet with autumn dew. The straw is given long, and the cows pick out the best of it. Another hygienic point is that linseed for food is always crushed, but as a a medicine it is always given whole. In the winter, on this farm, cows got about half a hundredweight of turnips each three times daily, namely, between six and seven o'clock in the morning, at noon, and about six in the evening; they also get the drink with the two latter meals, and straw the last thing at night.

of 60 acres.

six to ten.

the

* This farmer fed more liberally than his neighbours, and kept his farm in that admirable condition which we read is general in la petite culture, but which we found exceptional.