The Mineral argus., 1884-10-16
FARM LIFE In FRANCE.
el,mpsss Between Paris and Geneva.

IL DO
ross through the best portion of Franco. For
hundreds of miles every inch Of ground is cul-
svated The abruptside hills are in grape vines
and the fiat land in grain. Here we see the
nbenomenon of double crops-a crop of grain
and vegetables growing under a crop of trees.
The Normandy poplar trees are from an inch to
three feet in diameter. They are planted thick
". but give no shade. They are trimmed within
six feet of the top. The boughs, which are cut
off every year, make faggots enough to warm
France. We often see men and women Grad
ling wheat or hoeing beets in the midst of a
wood giving no shade. When Won look
across the country the tall, boughless trunks
look like blaok streaks painted against the
sky. They make the view very picturesque
Our farmers on the p~rairies could plant black
walnut trees where they want fences. trim
them to the tops, preventing shade. and then
string barbed wire on the trunks for fences
At the end of fifty years the black walnut
trees on a mans farm would be worth more
than his farm Wood in France is sold for a
third of a cent a pound. 1t is worth as much
as corn in Kansas by the pound. So when the
Kansas man burns corn, he il no more profit
gate than the Frenchman who burns faggots
The French farmer would never think of burn
ing wood to heat his house. He sits in the
cold all the winter long, only using. wood to
cook with. The average farmer does not know
enough to buy coal or kerosene yet He does
not live as well as the poorset negro in the
south. he has no home comforts, poverty
and ignorance are his companions.
France is literally one large garden. Every
inch of soil Is cultivated In riding from Paris
to Dion, $50 miles. we counted only thirty cat
tie. We saw no sheep or hogs. The farms
have usually from one to ten acres. Some
farms have half an acre, and some have as
many as twenty acres. They are usually from
80 to 300 feet wide and from 800 to 200 feet
long. There are no fences between them.
When l asked a French farmer how his farm
happened, like all the rest, to be so long and
narrow, he said:
SIT has been divided up SO often. When a
French father dies he divides his farm. and
each one of his children has an equal share
He always divides itlengthwise, 80 as to give
each one a long strip. The long strips are
easily cultivated because we plough length
ways. These strips always run north and
south, so that the sun can shine into the rows y
Glow large is your FARM" I asked.
my fathers farm was 300 feet wide and O.
600 feet long. When he died my brother had
half. Now my farm is $50 feet wide and 900
feet long. 1t is quite a large farm. There are
many farms much smaller than mine.n
"What do you plant in it?" l asked.
See over there" he said, pointing to what
sis a strip of wheat 60 feet wide. Then comes
a strip of potatoes % feet wide. Then comes
feet of oats, then 10 feet of carrots. 20 feet
alfalfa l~uzurne), 10 feet of mangel- wurzels.
; feet of onions, 5feet Of cabbages, and the rest
little vegetables"
Can You support your family on a farm $50
wide and 1900 feet long?" / asked: for the
narrow strip seemed like a mans dooryard in
Support my family?" he exclaimed "Wbv
farm is too large for us. rent part of It
tut now"
"But your house" 1 said. ''where is that?' !
"Oh that is in town. Five families of us
i've In one house there. My wife and l come
.ut every morning to work and 60 In at
light"
docs your wife always work in the ieldI
"fes. My wife" he continued, pointing to q !
and bareheaded woman, at least six :
around the waist, ''she can do more work l
nan l can: She pitches the hay to me on the c
tack. All French women work in the field. q
Ehy not? They have nothing t. 10 at home" :
This is true. The wife of a French, English. /
r1sh, or German farmer has nothing to do at a
ONE. They do not keep house, like the /
ives of American farmers. They have no s
ouses to keep. The huts they live in are s
Ike stables. They live in the same building t
18th their horses, hens and pigs. They never Q
ash a floor. Iherei is no table cloth. They {
We like brutes. The handsome farm house L
I by itself, surrounded by trees and gardens, 8
)es not exist in France. They live no better &
I'D are really no better off than were the slaves t
the south before the war. French farmers b
ways congregate in little tumble-doWn vii a
ges situated about two miles apart These P
may have been built three hundred q
ago. The roofs are moss-covered. the C
fuses are dirty, and remind one of a country 9
)or-house in New England.
There are millions of farms In France com 81
ming from a quarter of an acre to four acres, d
l find that an acre and a half is about all the n
ost ambitious man wants. The rent for land Il
always one-haf the crop. The land Is al
orth about $500 an acre; or, if in grape Il
mes, 5000 fl
This is why France is like a garden. In Eng hi
ld there are 227,0O landowners; in France VI
are 100000 landowners. The French g
IN on his two acres, with his barefooted wife th
ting grain with a sickle by his side. is han g
and contented, because he knows no better. 10
oh a degrading life would drive an Ameri- TT
q farmer mad. The Frenchman thrives be- tn
use he spends nothing. He has no wants be- ce
nd the coarsest food and the washings of the IN
skins after the wine is made. Yes he is III
fifty. lie saves money, too. The aggre- bl
ted wealth of 100000 900 poor, degraded. til
refooted peasants makes France rich, The sh
torrance of the French farmer is appalling. tn
ever saw a newspaper in a French farm vii OF
%. Their wants are no more than the wants 81
a horse. The Frenchman eats the coalsest flo
I'd; about the same as he feeds his horse. SO
will eat coarse bread and wine for break to
soup, bread, and wine for dinner, and gu
rhaps bread and milk for supper; he does I'M
know what coffee of tea is. The negroes of an
south live like kings compared to a French FRI
mer. Still, the Frenchman is satisfied be- tw
lse he knows no better. trf
| asked a French farmer who was Gull WI
ating his farm Q50by 1900 if he saved any
ney, he said: A,
oh, not much. 1 go to all the fetes. laid
900 francs tslO0 last year. 1 put 1t in the
sse d'Epargne.''
What is that?" 1 asked of the landlord.
hat is the government savings bank. The an
'ernment takes the money of the poor, up Or
200 francs, and gives them 81 per cent Tn