Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-30
FARM LIFE IN FRANCE.
Glimpses between Paris and Geneva.

Correspondence of the New York Sun
In going from Paris to Geneva. via Dion, we
pass through the best portion of France For
hundreds of miles every inch of land is cult
waited The abrupt side hills are in grape vines
and the fiat land in grain. Here we see the
phenomenon 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 thickly,
but give no shade. They are trimmed within
six feet OF the tops. The boughs, which are cut
off every year. make faggots enough to warm
France. We often see men and women Grad
ling wheat or hoein@ beets in the midst of a
wood giving no shade When you look across
the country the tai. boughless trunks look Ike
black streaks painted against the sky. They
make the Vie" very picturesque. Our farmers
on the parties 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 mans farm
would be worth more than his FARM Wood in
France is sold Tor a third of a cent 4 pound. 1t
is worth As much as corn in Kansas by the
pound. So when the Kansas man burns corn.
he is no more lrOfligate than the FrcnchInan
who burns faggots. The French farmer would
never think OF burning wood to heat his house.
He sits in the cold all the Winter long only
using wood to cock with. The average farmer
does not know enough to buv coal or kerosene
yet. he does not live as well rs the poorest
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 thirt,
cattle. We saw no sheep or hogs. The farms
nave usually from one to ten acres. Some farms
have half an acre, and some have as many as
twenty acres They are usually from so to 500
feet wide and from 1.500 to 2,0UU feet long.
There are no fences between them.
When asked a French farmer how his farm
happened. like all the rest, 10 be so long and
narrow. he said:
at 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 it lengthwise, so as to give each
one long strip. The long strips are easily eu-
tiVated. because we plough lengthways. These
strips always run north and south. SO that the
sun can shine into the rows"
How large is your FARM asked.
MY TAI hers farm was $40 feet wide and 9 Geo
feet long. When he died my brother had half.
Now my farm is $50 feet wide and 2CC0 feet
long. 1t is quite a large farm. There are many
farms much smaller than nine"
What DO you plant in it, l asked.
See over there" he said, pointing to what
seemed to be a gigantic piece of striped carpet,
lis strip of wheat GO feet wide. Then comes a
strip of potatoes % feet wide. Then comes 40
feet Of oats. then 10 feet of carrots 90 feet of al
falfa Quzurne). 10 feet OF mangel-wurZels, feet
of onions 5 feet of cabbages. and the rest is in
flowers. peas. currahts gOoseber,es. and little
vegetables
"Can you support your family on farm $50
feet wide and 2,g00 feet lOng?" ! asked; for the
narrow strip seemed like a mans dooryard in
America.
Support my family?' he exclaimed. "Why
the farm is too large for US. rent part of it
out now"
But your house" said. "where IS that?"
"Oh, that is il town. Five families of Us live
in one house there. My wife and | come out
every morning to work and go in at night
docs your wife always work in the field:
Yes. Ny Wife, he continued pointing to a
barefoCted and bareheadcd woman at least six
feet around the waist. ''she can DO more work
than l can. She pitches the hay to me on the
stack. All French women work in the field.
Why not: They have nothing to do at home ~
This is true. The wife of French. English
Irish, OF German farmer has nothing to DO at
home. They do not keep house" like the
wires Of American farmers. They have 10
houses 10 keep. The liuts they live in are like
stables. They live in the same building with
taeir horses. hens. and pigs. They never wash
floor There is never a table cloth They
Eve like brutCs. The handsome farm house Off
10y Itself. surrounded by trees and gardens does
not exist in France They live no better and
are really no better off tEGn were the slaves OF
the south before the var. Flcach farmers
always cCr@regate in little tumh!e-d0wn villages
situated about two miles apart These villages
may have been built three hundred Gears ago
The roots are mCss-COverCd the houses are dirty
ard remind one OF Il country pOor-hCusc in New
England.
There are millions of farms in France con-
taluing from quarter Of an acre to tour acres
find that an acre and a half is about all the
nost ambitious man wants. The rent for land
Is always one-i!a!f the crop. The land is worth
about t4C0 an acre; or, if in grape wires, 5000
This is why France is like n garden. In Eng
land there are 227 eco landowners; in France
there are 10000 landowners. Tie French
nan on his two acres. with his barcfGoted wife
cutting grain with sickle by his side is haDpy
and contanted. because he knows no better
Such degrading life would drive an American
farmer mad. The Frenchman thrives because
he spends nothing lie has no wants beyond
the coarsest food and the wasnings of tie grape
skins alter the wine is made. Yes he is thrifty
He saves money. too. The aggregated wealth
of 2o,GO,C00 poor degraded. barefOOted peas
ants makes France rich. The ignorance of the
french farmer is appalling. | never saw a
newspaper in French farm village. Their wants
are no more than the wants of horse. The
Frenchman eats the coarsest food; about the
same as he feeds his horse. He will eat coarse
bread and wine tor breakfast soup bread and
VINE Tor dinner, ana perhaps bread and milk
for supper; he does not know what coffee or tea
rs The negroes of the outh live like kings
compared to French farmer. Still the French
man is satisfied because lie knows no better
When asked French farmer who was cult
vat.ng his farm $50 by 1900 if he saved any
money, he said:
'Oh. net much. go to all the retes. laid
by 800 frame (2i0O) last year. l put it in the
Cdasse dEpGryne."
What is that" asked Of the landlord.
That is the government savings bank The
government takes the money OF the DOOR up to
LOCO francs, ana gives them 315 per cent for it's
use lie peasant farmers Of France have
nearly S6G0.o0O.OOO on deposit in these savings
banks These poor. degraded haf-fed farmers
Keep the French treasury full of money.
ihe French farmer loves the republic but the
peore OF Paris hate it. The empire made Paris
Without the empire, trade is bad i'm Paris;
so Paris signs for some Louis XIV. or Napoleon
H. to come and establish an expensive court
again.
asked farmer near Dion if he preferred
the republic to the empire.
Yes" he said. ''but We most of all want
peace. We are sick of war If the empire
comes they will want Us to fight We want to
stay at home on our farms. Frenchmen do not
like 10 fight The Parsians want an emperor
WHO will collect millions of dollars from the
country and spend it on opera houses and pub
lie buildings in Paris"
found Paris very dull. Trade there is stag
nant. The people there are dissatisfied lwould
not DC surprised to hear any day that the re-
pubic was dead and another empire declared
All that is wanting is the right man with old
Bourbon blood in him and few generals in the
army. DIXON, Macon. Amiens and all the pro-
vincial cities like the republic-but Paris is
France.
The crops in England and France are good
everywhere. with the exception of hops in Kent