Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-09-03
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THE FEEsen FARMER.

France, gives an interesting account of
farming in that country, which should
be perssed With profit By many Of our
readers. He writes:
France 10 literally one large garden.
Every inch of soil IL cultivated. In
riding from Paris 10 Dion. l50 miles,
Ne eosntsd only thirty cattle. We saw
no sheep or hogs TIE farms Usually
have from one to ten acres. Some
farms have half an acre and Some have
- many as twenty asres- They are
usually from 30 to 800 feet wide and
from 1900 to 200 feet long. There are
no fences between them.
when | asked French farmer hov
his farm happened, like all the rest, 70
be 50 long and narrow. be said:
I" IL has been divided up so often
when q French father dies he divides
his farm, and each one of his children
has an equal share. He always divides
1t lengthSise. so as to give each ons a
long strip. The long strips are easily
cultivated. because we piow length
wise. These strips always run north
aud south, 90 the sun can shine into
the rows"
How large il your farm" | asked.
Ny fathers farm was 800 feet wide
and 200 feet long. When be died my
brother had half. Nov my farm is $50
feet vide and 200 feet long. II is
quite q large farm. There are many
farms much smaller than mine"
What do you plant in itI'' asked.
See over there" he said, pointing
20 what seemed to be gigantic piece
Of striped carpet, "is a strip OF wheat
60 feet wide. Then comes a strip of
potatoes 70 feet wide. Then comes 20
feet of oats, then 10 feet of carrots, 20
feet OF alfalfa, (clover) 10 feet of man
gel wurzeis, five feet of onions. five fee.
Of cabbages, and the rest Is in flowers,
peas, gooseberries, ourrants, and little
vegetables"
"Can you support your family on a
farm $50 feet wide and 200 feet longT'
/ asked; for tue narrow strip seemed
like mans aooryard in America.
support my familyr' he exclaimed.
why, the farm is too large for as. /
rent part of It out new"
"Bus your house." ! said; where is
that2''
"Oh, that is in town. Five families
of as live in one house there. NV wife
and come out every morAing to work,
and 90 in at night"
Does your wife always work in the
feldY' asked.
Yes. My wife" he continued, point
ing TO q bare-footed and bare headed
woman at least six feet around the waist,
"she can do more work than can. She
pitches the hay to me on the stack. All
French women work in the fields. Why
notf They have nothing to do at
home"
This is true. The wife Of French.
English, Irish or German farmer has
nothing to do at home. They do not
keep house like the wives of American
farmers. They have no houses to keep.
The huts they live in are like stables
They live in the same building with
their horses, hens and pigs. They never
wash floor. There Is never q table
| cloth. They live like brutes. The
handsome farmhouse of by itself, sur.
rounded by trees and gardens, does not
exist III France. They live no better
and are really no better off than were
the slaves of the South before the war
French farmers always congregate IN
little tumble down villages situated
about two miles apart. Tbese villages
may have been built 3O0 years ago. The
roofs are moss covered, the houses are
dirty, and remind one of a county poor.
louise in New England.
there are millions of farms in France
containing from quarter of an acre t.
| four acres.
fluid that an acre and a half il
about all the most ambitious man
wants. The rent for land IL always
oue- half the crop. The land is worth
about 500 an acre; or, II in eraps
vines. $50.
This Is why France Is like a garden
In England there are 227 COO land own.
ers; IN France there are zoe, 600 hand
owners. The Frenchman ON bis two
acres. with his barefooted wife cutting
grain with q sickle by his side. is happy
| and eontented because he knows No
better. Suoh degrading life would
drive an American farmer mad, The
Frenchman thrives because he spends
nothing. He has no wants beyond the
ooarsest food aud the washinps of the
grape skins after the wine is made,
Yes, be IL thrifty. He saves money, too,
The aggregated wealth of 5000 OOC
poor, degraded, barefooted peasants
A
The Ignorance of the French farmer
Is appalling. never saw a newspaper
10 French farm village. Their wants
are no more than the wants Of a horse
He will have coarse and wine for break
fast; soup, bread and wine for dinner
and pernaps bread and milk for supper;
he does not know what coffee or tea ia
The negroes of the south live like kings
compared TO French farmer. still the
Frenchman is satisfied, because be
knows no better.
when asked q French farmer who
was cultivatinR his farm fl5Q by l5OC
feet II he saved any money, he said:
"Oh, not much. g. to all the fetes
laid by SO francs 5000 lAss year. i
put u IN the Caisse d Epargne."
What Is thair asked Of the land.
lsrd.
lie said that was the government saw
ines bank. The government takes the
money OF the POOR up 10 1000 francs
and gives them III per cent for its use
The peasant farmers of France have
nearly $4,000, 900 on deposit in thes.
savings banks. These poor, degraded
haif-fed farmers keep the French trea
snry full OF money.
Indian corn ~ raised all over the
southern half of France. they plant
Que stalk IN a hill and hoe u BY hand
The weeds are all hoed out Of the wheat