_Weeding and hoeing._--The Flemish farmer never considers his work
half done until his fields are completely freed from weeds. This
is effected, in a great measure, by repeated digging, by which the
upper stratum that contains the seeds and roots of noxious plants,
is buried sufficiently deep into the ground to prevent their
vegetating. When weeds do appear, they are immediately extirpated
either by the harrow before the grain is sown, or afterwards
by careful and repeated hand hoeings. This they find the more
necessary, to rid the earth of parasite plants, the seeds of which
are mixed with the seeds of culinary vegetables, and produce
plants that feed on the juices of the dung, to the great injury
of the legitimate stock. A Flemish farm, in consequence of these
attentions, resembles more a highly cultivated garden, than many
places which bear that name. When I first beheld these fields,
I supposed them actually to be gardens, and was only undeceived
when further observation and inquiry convinced me, that the whole
country was cultivated in a similar manner, and presented the same
delightful scene.
_Choice of Seeds._--It is an invariable practice in Flanders, never
to use for seed the grain grown on the land to be sown; nor is the
expense regarded when the object is to obtain heavy and healthy
seed. Farmers in distant districts exchange seeds with each other,
and journies of hundreds of miles are frequently taken to accomplish
this desirable purpose. Vanderstractan mentions two farmers, whose
grounds were alike, and who cultivated them with equal skill and
industry. They had both been long in the practice of procuring
excellent seed potatoes from Brabant, which yielded in that province
two hundred cwt. per English acre. When transplanted, the produce
was regularly, year after year, five hundred and forty cwt. per
acre.[11] One of these men having, one year, to save the expense
of carriage, used potatoes of his own growth, the original produce
of Brabant, soon repented the step, and returned to his former
practice. Flanders usually receives its supply of flax-seed from the
north of Europe; but having, during the latter years of the reign
of Napoleon, been deprived of that supply, through his restrictive
decrees; the produce of that valuable plant was not more than half
the usual quantity, which besides was greatly inferior to preceding
crops.
[11] This great produce cannot fail to astonish many persons living
in this country. But let them recollect, that the upper layer of the
soil, from which the crops are produced, is never changed here; that
this layer, having been so often used, must have lost part of its
ancient fertility; that dung is not spread in abundance with us as
in Flanders; and that it is possible the species of potatoes grown
here have degenerated.
Although the Flemish are the most particular people in the world
as to the choice of their seeds, they are sometimes deceived. An
instance of this happened a few years ago, which was followed by
very injurious consequences. A person brought some flax-seed from
Riga, which he sold for sound seed. It was, however, superanuated,
but he had contrived to give it a fresh and healthy appearance,
and thus imposed on the best judges. The farmers, deceived by the
false mark, bought and sowed the seed, none of which ever appeared
above the ground. "The desolation of the country was universal; the
loss was estimated at several millions of florins; and the offender
escaped the punishment he merited, only through the intercessions
of several powerful friends, who found means to stifle the affair,
notwithstanding the cries of its numerous victims." I recollect a
case somewhat similar to this, which happened a few years ago in
Edinburgh. A respectable seed merchant there purchased a quantity
of flax-seed from a foreigner, which he sold again in small parcels
to the farmers, who, on sowing it, found that it was unsound, as no
part of it was productive. The seed merchant was sued, and although
he distinctly proved, that he made the purchase himself under the
impression that the seed was fresh, and paid a fair price for it, he
was found liable in damages to the amount of the loss sustained by
the farmer who sued, upon the ground that he was bound to guarantee
every article which he sold at the regular market price, whether he
was imposed upon himself or not. These lessons were not thrown away.
In Flanders, as well as in Scotland, no foreign seed is purchased,
until the purchasers be fully satisfied as to the quality of the
article, and the character of the seller.
The Flemish practice, with regard to a change of seeds, has long
prevailed in Scotland, not only as to potatoes, but as to wheat,
barley, oats, and all other grain. The Scotch potatoes have
always appeared to me superior to those raised in England, where
the same attention is not shown to the choice of seed. It is a
fact, also, well known in these countries, that the barley raised
in Scotland, though greatly inferior in _appearance_ to English
barley, and raised in a colder climate, contains more saccharine
matter, or nourishment. This has been tested by experiments at
the distilleries, under the immediate inspection of officers
appointed by the government, who reported a greater quantity of
spirit obtained from barley, the growth of Scotland, than from that
produced in England. The beef sold in the London markets, which
had been reared in the Scotch distilleries upon the refuse grains,
uniformly sells at from three to four cents a pound more than that
fed at any of the English distilleries.
This superiority unquestionably arises from the greatly improved
system of agriculture, _generally_ introduced into Scotland, but
it is owing in nothing so much as to the very scrupulous attention
there paid to the choice of seed. Of late years, this branch of
husbandry seems to have considerably attracted the notice of
the English farmers; some of whom, as appears from the English
newspapers, have found it greatly to their interest to cultivate
wheat, in particular, obtained from foreign places, which, when
grown, they convey to distant parts of the country, and sell
exclusively for seed wheat. It was mentioned in the Cumberland
Packet (an English journal) of 14th October, 1816, "that a farmer
had obtained _l._40, ($170,) per load, of 30 bushels, for seed
wheat, on account of its great product. He had also, obtained the
same price for seven years past for this wheat, which had been
originally imported from abroad."
_Rotation of Crops_--The intelligent agriculturalists of England are
well aware, that the more the rotation of crops are varied, the more
abundant is their produce; but this opinion is confined to a few in
that country. It is only in Flanders that the idea of exhausting the
soil, by repeated cropping, is exploded, and the rotation system
brought to the greatest possible state of perfection. The ground
being prepared in the manner before stated, the Flemish farmer
adopts either one or the other of the following courses: