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are very precarious), and in variety of plants for which a ready sale can be obtained, Belgium has advantages in which parts of Great Britain and nearly all Ireland are deficient. To expect, therefore, that because holdings of three, four or five acres can be cultivated with advantage around a cluster of large Belgian towns,[1] and amid the densest population in Europe, of which the agricultural class forms less than one half, a similar system can be introduced into Ireland, with its rainy, sunless climate,[2] its sparse
- ↑ East and West Flanders together comprise a smaller area than the County of Cork, and contain the following towns:—Grammont, 8,500; Eccloo, 8,500; Menin, 9,000; Renaix, 11,000; Lockeren, 17,000; Ostende, 16,000; Bruges, 48,000; Thorout, 8,000; Poperinghe, 10,500; Ypres, 16,500; Courtray, 22,000; Ghent, 108,900; Alost, 18,000; Dendermonde, 8,500; St. Nicolas, 21,000; the urban population of Flanders being little short of 400,000,—nearly three times as large as the urban population of the County of Cork; which in addition to its city of 80,000 inhabitants, can only boast of two towns with a population of 9000, another two with a population of 6000, and three or four with a population of 3000. In connection with our present argument, I might very fairly include in the urban population of Flanders, the adjacent town of Antwerp, with its 100,000 inhabitants.
- ↑ "Belgium seems to possess a perfect climate for promoting rapid vegetation: plenty of moisture and a hot sun.""Bien que la quantité de pluie qui tombe ne soit pas très considérable, 800 millimetres par an; mais il plcut trcs souvcut (un jour sur deux)."—Eco. Rurale, p. 10."There are countries where oats will ripen, but not wheat, such as the North of Scotland; others where wheat can be grown, but from excess of moisture and want of sunshine affords but a precarious crop; as in parts of Ireland."Mill's Polit. Econ.p. 127.As the excessive wetness of the Irish climate may not be
