The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-09-02
A French Farm.

A correspondent of the Detroit Post and
Tribune visited a model farm a few miles
from Paris, France, a short time ago. The
owner, he says, had six hectares of land,
(nearly fifteen acres which he valued at 3d.
600 francs,-a little less than $4,000. It con-
sisted of thirty-five detached parcels, all with
in one mile of the village in which he resided.
he was cultivating wheat, oats, barley, rye,
peas, beans, potatoes and other vegetables;
also grapes, apples, plums, cherries and small
fruit. He raised no stock, and had neither
pig nor chicken about his premises. He had
one horse, fine grade Norman, two carts,
plow and harrow, and a general assortment
Of hand tools, for eradcating weeds, stirring
and pulverizing the soil. he employs two
men and two boys to aid him in his farm
work, and pays them ga per month for men,
Hands furnishing their own board get about
500 month. He said that labor was very
scarce and wages high on account of the
young and able-bodied men being drafted in
to the army. The work is principally done
by old men, women and boys. Day laborers
get 70 to 80 cents day, without board, and
days labor is fourteen hours. The cores
pendent says:
''The standing wheat would average about
five and a half feet in height, with head heavy
and long. The berry is plump and of excel
lent quality, and mostly Of the winter red, or
amber, variety. Oats and rye were much
taller than the wheat. was shown a field
of new variety of oats, which had recently
been introduced, and which very closely re-
sembled the Norway oat.' I gathered few
stocks and brought them to my room. They
are seven feet long, and by actual MEASURE
ment one-half inch in diameter. OF root
crops, potatoes seem to take the preference.
The potato bug has not arrived here yet, and
there is no insect to prey upon them. The
tops were rank, nearly covering the ground,
and the rounded hills were well filled with
fine growing tubers. The average yield of
wheat grown by my informant was stated to
be fifty hectolitres per hectare, or nearly fl
ty-seven bushels per acre. Oats were said to
yield from seventy.fve to eighty bushels per
acre, and barley from thirty to thirty-fve.
Harvesting is done by hand. Where the
grain stands up well, the cradle is sometimes
used, but most of the grain is cut with the
scythe and sickle. Every head is saved. The
threshing is done by small two-horse ma
chimes, to which all the wheat in neighbour
hood is hauled, and the straw sold from the
machine. The wheat is generally sold to the
nillers and buyers, and the bread used in the
families bought from the bakers carts,
which make their daily trips from house to
house.
The owner of the farm gave the fob
lowing as the result Of his farm operations
for 1877: His land was all in crops, and the
value of the same when sold was nearly ST.
800. After paying for manures purchased,
his hired help, taxes and other expenses, in
Guiding the support of his family, he saved
$3.50, which would seem to be good margin
for so small farm; but when consider that
pent-up, humble dwelling, with its small
rooms, scanty furniture and cherries sur
roundings, together with the plain fare upon
which the family subsist, / can understand
how that amount could be saved. A farmer
of our country who lives and dresses as well
as most of them do, would fall irretrievably
into debt on this income"