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BELGIUM

department of agriculture, dealing with forestry, clearing and planting, irriga- tion, veterinary affairs, cultivation, and agricultui-al laboratories.

The tendency in Belgium is to a great subdivision of holdings ; these increased from 572,550 in 1846, to 910,396 in 1880, the date of the latest statistics. At that date the holdings of various sizes were as follows : — Less than 1 hectare (2 '47 acres) 594,376 ; from 1 to 5 hectares 226,088 ; from 5 to 10 hectares 48,390 ; from 10 to 20 hectares 25,893 ; from 23 to 50 hectares 12,186 ; above 50 hectares 3,403.

The area worked by owners increased by 94,650 hectares between 1866 and 1880. In 1880, 713,019 hectares were worked by owners, and 1,270,512 by farmers.

Of the 2,945,715 hectares which compose the area of Belgium, 67*34 per cent, are under cultivation, and 16 '61 per cent, under forest, 7 '88 per cent, uncultivated, the rest roads, marshes, rivers, &c. The population connected with agriculture in 1880 numbered 1,199,319, or 21*77 of the whole.

The following figures show the yield of the chief crops for two years. For the area under the various crops there are no more recent statistics than those of 1880 :—

Crop

Area cultivated 1880

Yield

1896

1897

Hectares Wheat .... 275,756 Barley. . •, 40,156

Oats 249.327

Rye ... . 277,362

Potatoes. . . 199,229

Beet (sugar). . . ' 32,606

,, (other). . . 1 26,171

Hectolitres 6,653,911 1,346,827 9,254,900 7,666,206

Quintals 29,612,723 10,583,982 1 10,758,422

Hectolitres 6,681,568 1,264,914 10,596,398 6,520,380

Quintals

29,037,626

8,722,105

11,776,950

In 1895 the yield of tobacco gi'own in Belgium was 5,166,000 kilogrammes. The net revenue from forests alone in 1890 was 4,830,884 francs. In 1880 there were 271,974 horses, 1,382,815 horned cattle, 365,400 sheep, and 646,375 pigs.

II. Mining and Metals and other Industries.

There is a special department for the administration of Industry and Labour. There are a Superior Council of Industry, a Council of Mines, and a Council of Prud'hommes or specialists for advising the State as to the interests of various industries.

The number of quarries in Belgium in 1896 was 1,409, workmen 32,601. The number of workmen engaged in metallic mines in 1894 was 1,581 ; in 1895, 1,422 ; in 1896, 2,017.^ The quantity of iron ore produced in 1895 was 307,031 tons, valued at 1,417,820 francs. There were in 1895, 223 coal mines in Belgium, of which 120 were worked. The number of work- people in 1896 was 119,246 (in 1893, 116,861), of whom 888 were women (in 1893, 2,172), 5,781 boys (in 1893, 6,359), working undcrgroimd. The production of coal, and its value, were as follows : —