Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1874 — “ A Little Land Well Tilled.” [ARTICLE]

“ A Little Land Well Tilled.”

The following extract from a Brussels letter to the Chicago Tribune shows what can be done on a small area of territory : “ Belgium is only a small patch of territory containing barely jj.0,400 square miles; but on this little ‘‘area there is supported in comfort and independence 5,400,000 souls! Can your readers realize that on a space not exceeding onefiftli that of Illinois there is concentrated the population of Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota? But such is the fact. “Not only does Belgium produce sufficient food for her population, including barley for the manufacture of beer, of which large quantities are consumed, but she grows nearly enough sugar beets to .supply her people with what “ sw’eetning” they need; and in the mountain districts of Ardennes grapes enough are grown to produce a considerable part of all the wine consumed in Belgium. “ Previous to the French occupation the land w’as held in vast estates by the nobles and priests for the benefit of a few pampered families, and as a consequence the country was badly tilled by an ignorant, superstitious and povertypinched peasantry. But as fast as the lands, under the operation of the French laws, became the property of those w 7 ho farmed them, the system of tillage improved and the condition of the people changed from pauperism into independence. “ There is now no hereditary land monopoly and no idle land in Belgium. Not an acre is devoted to deer parks, pheasantries or other sporting purposes for the enjoyment of a luxurious and dissolute aristocracy, w T hile masses of men are starving for bread. As I travel through Belgium I see swarms of men, women and children cutting down and gathering a harvest of grain and grass where the j wheat w ill yield thirty to forty bushels to the acre, the oats fifty to scVenty-five bushels, and the hay two and a half to four tons per acre, while the ensuing product of flax and root crops—potatoes and beets—w ill be beyond the American conception of Impossibilities. The strawberries, and raspberries and gooseberries brought to market, while not superior in flavor to those sold in Chicago, are twice or thrice as large. “ These enormous yields of agricultural and horticultural products are not in consequence of a better soil or climate than in America,' but are the results of heavy manuring, deep plowing and spading, subsoiling, under-draining when required, irrigation when possible, watchful hoeing and weeding, free use csf guano and other fertilizers for top-dressing and careful harvesting and storage of crops, whereby nothing is wasted, lost, or allowed to rot in the field. This perfect system of tillage never was adopted or thought of until the land became the property of the cultivators of the soil, and the of landlord and tenant chased to exist. The price of land in Belgium ranges from S2OO to SI,OOO per acre, and a fair average would be S4OO to $500; but there is very little offered for sale. “ Brussels possesses a park which for extent is unrivaled in Europe and before long will have no superior in beauty — the great forest of Soignes, which extends from the suburbs south to the edge of the battle-field of Waterloo, a distance of twelve miles, and with a width oT four or five miles. This large tract has a great variety of hill and dale surface, with some small streams flowing through it. It is densely crowned with tall forest tree§ one or two centuries old. Through this great forest the Belgian Government, to whom it belongs, is constructing broad drive-ways and bridlepaths, and lakes, cascade, bridges, grottoes, and other decorative works. But it is so extensive that it will take generations to complete them all." —Since the middle of September it is said that there have been more marriages in New York city than during any seven weeks for years. The connubial pestilence appears to have broken out with extraordinary virulence. —The Boston weatherman says that thC last quarter of October was the warmest in that month for fifty years, except that of 1854, the. temperature being nearly eight and one-half degrees above the average. . "