BELGIUM THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY IN EUROPE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 86, 19 December 1874, Page 14

BELGIUM THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY IN EUROPE.

This is the Effect of Good Laws. (From Meddills letters to Chicago * Tribune.') Belgium is only a small patch of territory, containing barely 10,400 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 one-fifth that of Illinois, there is concentrated the population of Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota ? But such is the fact. Belgium supports. ONE HTTNDBED FAMILIES TO THE SQUARE MILK. England which contains one city of 3,000,000 inhabitants and a dozen others ranging from 200,000 to 600,000 each, is less densely populated that Belgium by 100 persons to the square mile. And what is still more singular, England which boasts of her scientific and perfect system of landlord and tenant cultivation, scarcely produces half the bread or meat consumed by her population, but imports four millions of tons of breadstuffs, and three millions of tons of fresh and salt meats, cheese and butter — making seven millions of tons of food per annum ; whereas Belgium, which contains 25 per cent, more inhabitants to the square mile, imports scarcely a pound of breadstuffs or a pound of meat, but actually exports more food than she imports. 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 " sweetening " they need j and in the mountain districts of Ardennes grapes enough are grown to produce a considerable pbrt of all the wine consumed in Belgium. This dense population is attributed to the breaking up of large estates into small farms, to the removal of restraints on commerce, giving the people the benefit of free trade, and to cheap transportation brought about by the government, becoming a competitor with private enterprise in transporting merchandise. The example and success of Belgium is an interesting fact for the American people. 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, while 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 wheat will yield 30 to 40 bushels per acre, the oats 50 to 75 bushels, and the hay 2£ to 4 tons per acre ; while the ensuing product of flax and of root crops — potatoes and beets — will be beyond. American conception of possibilities. The strawberries, red raspberries, and gooseberries, brought to market, while not superior in flavor to those sold in Chicago, are twice or thrice aa large. These enormous yields of agricultural and horticultural products are not in consequence of better soil and climate than in America, but are the results of heavy manuring, deep ploughing and spadeing, subsoiling, and underdraining when required, irrigation when possible, watchful hoeing and weeding, free use of 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 fields. 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 relation of landlord and tenant ceased to exist. THE PRICE OF LAND in Belgium ranges from $200 to $1000 per acre, and a fair average would be §400 to $500 j but there is very little offered for sale. Most of the sales take place in cases where rich manufacturers or bankers want a. country seat ; or, more frequently, where the older heirs purchase the interests of the younger ones, — the latter taking up their residence in the cities. It is perfectly surprising on how small a freehold patch of ground the Belgium peasant is able to raise a family in comfort, and supply all their reasonable wants. Of course they realize high prices for every article they have to sell, — about double what an Illinois farmer gets ; while they purchase all their store-goods for less than half of what the western farmer must pay for his supplies. Ownership of the land and good prices for -the crops are the incentives which make the Belgium, farmers strive to make the earth yield its utmost production. THE FOBEKJN COMMERCE of Beloiuni is immense for so small a country. Last year the imports amounted to §280,000,000, and the exports to $250,000. Like the British, the Belgians seek to have "balance of trade" against themselves, as that proves they receive more property than they send abroad in exchange for it. Hence the "balance of trade " against them measures their clear profits ; at least they think so ; and by pursuing that course steadily for thirty or forty years past, they have become rich, in spite of the adverse "balance The revenue of the government for 1873 was $38,000,000, and the total expenditure $35,600,000. The surplus was applied in payment of the national debt, which now amounts to $183,000,000 —the interest on the same being $7,200,000. The Belgian debt consists of two parts— first, the portion of the Dutch national debt, which they were obliged to assume after obtaining their independence, as adjudged by the Great Powers; second, the amounts expended for the construction of State railways and telegraphs. The former, or Dutch debt part, amounted to $97,500,000; the latter, or cost of the railroads, to $126,000,000; total $223,500,000, of which $40,000,000 has been paid off. Belgium is one of the nations which are liquidating their national debts, *or whose revenues are greater than their expenditures.