The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-12-31

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gallon bucket, and when l lean one
against my knees 1t reaches as high
as my waist. The grain is exceeding
ly heavy, for the production per acre
of wheat, oats. barley, rye and pota-
toes exceeds that of any other civil
lied country. The wheat yield is 81
bushels per acre, while cur average
is only Is. Before the war Belgium
imported about three-fourths of her
wheat; but her production of other
foodstuffs, including meat, was suf-
ficient for the whole population, and
she exported sugar, potatoes draft
horses, fruit and vegetables She
produced over 100000 pounds of beet
sugar this year.
During the war the Germans carried
away $4,000 horses. 100000 cattle.
$4,000 pigs and 100000 fowls. They
have since brought back over $4,000
horses, 10000 cattle and $4,000 fowls.
The country has now more than 20O,-
600 horses. 100000 cattle and almost
100000 pigs.
How Flax is Harvested
But to return to the crops through
which we are passing. here and there
we see wheat stack. 1t is beau
tifpliy shaped and the cap is so made
that 1t looks almost. like thatch. 1t
is tied on with two rows of straw
rope. The same care is taken as to
flax, which is one of the great crops
of Belgium, its linen industry be-
ing famous all over the-world. The
flax is cut with sickles and the little
stalks, not much bigger than knitting
needles, are propped up against one
another SO that they look like so
many yellow Ounce caps After dry
ing they are put up in sheaves of
double story. like the wheat and oats.
all carefully capped. and later are
carried in huge carts to the mills
near the streams in which the flax
must be rotted to get out the fiber.
Belgium makes quantities of linen,
and she exports more than ten mil
lion dollars worth of flax in one
year.
AS we go on we pass fields of
potatoes which are growing 900
bushels per acre, patches of barley
which yield fifty bushels. and great
quantities of green hops trained on
tall poles. This is a land of good
beer. which now costs abont 10 cents
a pint 1t is greedily drunken.-for
so far prohibition has not corked up
the thirsty Belgium throat
Elephants In Horsehide
But Jules has stopped our au-
tomobile at the side of the road to
allow caravan of teams dragging
huge wagons of wheat to pass by.
Each wagon holds from three to five
tons, but two horses pull 1t with
case over these smooth Belgium
blocks. Some teams haul two loaded
wagons, the tongue of the second tied
to the back of the first. The wagons
themselves weigh half a ton, and
some are so heavily loaded that an
American team could not bulge them
on one of the rough. country roads
of the states.
The horses are enormous They
look like elephants in horseshoe, and
some of the best will weigh ton
EACH l see even bigger horses pull
ing the drays of the cities and ports.
They still compete with the trucks.
Before the war draft stations to q
value of $40, 000.0 900 per annum were
annually exported from here to Great
Britain. Oxen also are used and even
cows. donkeys. and some American
mules which were left over from the
World war There are but few
tractors. although they are gradually
coming in to those parts of the coun-
try where the. soil is heavy, and to
farms of one hundred acres or moro.
The principal work for which they
are employed Is in deep blowing.
Land of Small Farms
One of the surprising features Of
our travel though Belgium Is the
multitude of small farms and also
the intensive cultivation. Before the
war out of less than 100000 acres
OF total area, about 100000 acres
were titled. Much of the ground Il