Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-04-17
GERMAN LIFE.

A Graphic sh:ssA .,,: q German Life, B.
William Hewitt gives the following
graphic account of Life in Germany,
which will, perhaps, both amuse and in
form our readers:
Each German has his house, orchard
his roadside trees 80 laden with frui,
that if he did not properly prop up ant
tie them together With wooden clamps
they would be torn asunder by their owr
weight. He has his corn, his plot fol
mangle-wurzel, for his potatoes, fol
hemp, etc. He is his own master, and
he therefore, with every branch of hii
family, have the strongest motives fol
constant exertiOn. You see the effect OF
this in his industry and economy,
In Germany nothing is lost. The pro
duce of the trees and cows are carried to
market. Much fruit is dried for winter
use. You see wooden trays of plums,
cherries and sliced apples lying in the
sun to dry. You see strings of them
hanging from the chamber windows in
the sun. The cows are kept up for the
greater part of the year, and every green
thing is collected for them. Every little
nook where the grass grows is carefully
cut with the sickle and carried home on
the heads of the women and children,
in baskets or tied in large cloths Moth
ing of any kind that can possibly be
made of any Use is lost. Weeds, nettlcs,
nay the very good grass which covers
waste places is cut and taken for the
cows.
You see the children standing in the
streets Of the villages, in streams which
generally run down them, busy washing
these weeds before they are given to the
cattle. They carefully collect the leaves
of the marsh grass, carefully cut their
potato tops for them, and even if other
things fail, gather green leaves from the
woodlands. One cannot help thinking
continually of the enormous waste of
such things in England-Of the vast
quantities Of grass on banks by the road
sides, in openings of plantations, in lanes,
in yards, where grass from year to year
springs and dies, but which, if carefully
cut, would maintain many thousand
cows for the poor.
To pursue still further this subject of
German economy. The very cuttings of
the vines are dried and preserved for
winter fodder. The tops and refuse of
the hemp serve as bedding for the cows;
nay, even the rough stalks of the pop
pies, after the heads have been gathered
for oil, are saved, and all these are con-
verted into manure for the land. When
these are not sufficient, the children are
sent into the woods to gather moss; and
all our reader familiar with Germany,
will remember to have seen them COM
ing homeward with large bundles of this
on their heads. In autumn the falling
leaves are gathered and stacked for the
same purpose. The fir-cones, which with
us lie and rot in the woods, are carefully
collected and sold for lighting fires.
In short, the economy and care of the
German peasant are an example to all
Europe. He has for years-nay, ages
been doing that, as regards agricultural
management, to which the British gov.
ernment is but just beginning to open its
eyes. Time, also, is as carefully sconO-
mized as everything else. The Germans
are early risers, as may well he con-
ceived, when the children, many of
whom come from considerable distances,
are in school at six in the morning. As
they tend their cattle or swine, the knit
ting never ceases, and hence the quanti-
ties of stockings and other household
things which they accumulate, are aston
ishino