The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-11-06

dry and firm with an excellent flavor.
Many of these were exported to Amer
lea last winter. What horses are used
In Belgium, however, are good ones.
There are no finer draught horses, no
larger ones and none that draw heavier
loads. They are no good, however, on
soft ground, but that does not interfere
with their usefulness much for all the
roads and streets of Belgium are hard,
chiefly paved with brick or Belgian
! blocks.
One day last spring I had load of
lumber brought into my show lot in
Antwerp. It was drawn by two big
Belgian horses. When they got onto
the soft ground of the lot, which hap
pened to be little boggy just then on
account of rain, they stopped. They
could not be made to move the wagon.
After the driver had given up trying,
L had a span of American draught
| horses from my stables hitched to the
wagon and they walked off with it
without any trouble. The reason of
this was, suppose, that the Belgian
horses are accustomed to hard footing
while my American horses were used
to every kim of roads, mostly bad ones
AS horses are used on but few Bel
gian farms, so are plows scarce articles
there. What plows are used are primi
tive things, made of wood with an iron
share for turning the soil. The Ameri
| can cultlvator is of course unknown
either in Belgium or Holland. AS to
other improved farming implements,
there is no place for them. The spade,
the hoe and the reaping hook are their
implements. They cut the grain in the
same manner that the reapers did in
the fields of Boaz and the women still
follow the example Of Ruth. They
CLEAN the fields after the reapers. They
first do their share of the reaping,
though, just the same as the men do
and there is no work on the farms
which is considered too hard for the
women to do When the crops are
harvested they are stored in the left of
seen a number of barns These are
more plentiful in the northern prov,
inces, particularly in the cattle country
of Friesland. Just now the foot and
mouth disease is bad in Friesland and
the other countries of Europe have
quarantined against it. The price of
Friesland milk COWS has fallen from
1925 to $75 in consequence. AS Fries
land COWS are probably the best for
milk, that province of Holland was
long great producing country.
Twenty years ago the city of Leu
warden was one of the biggest butter
market of North Europe. Friday is
the day for the big butter market at
Leeuwarden. The time was when over
a quarter of million pounds was the
average market day sales for export
alone. Now the amount of butter ex
ported does not reach one quarter of
that quantity. Danish butter on the
one side and Normandy butter on the
other have almost crowded the Friesche
|
cause they are better.
The Frieslanders have taken, since
then, to making more cheese. The
| light colored cheese with cloves and
seeds in it, is the peculiar product of
Friesland, with the Dutch name Of
nagelkaas. 1t is not so good as the
more famous Ed8mm .rkaas. The little
round cheeses which are painted red
for the export trade and so well known
in the United States as Edam cheese,
are made by the farmers of the prov
ince of North Holland. They sell here
for 10 cents pound or twice as much
as the Friesland cheese with it's block
spicGs. A better cheese than either is
also made in North Holland. It is
more like New York chedder and is
known as Hollandsche kaas. 1t is
shaped like a grindstone, about IA
inches in diameter and four inches
thick.
In both Holland and Belgium cheese
takes the place of meat at breakfast.
The rule of these countries, like others
of Europe, is that nothing is made
warm for breakfast but coffee, and this
rule has caused no end of trouble with
the cowboys with my Wild West show.
In Antwerp I had an American cook
to keep them in good humor but since
1 have been touring Holland have had
to dispense with the American board
ing house for them and send them to
hotels. In the first three or four cities