The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-10-08
TIE FRENCH FARMERS.
WHAT AN AMERICAN GENTLE1IAN
s.wMniLEGOING FROM PARIS TO
GENEVA,
A FrenchnRs ana His wife Cultivate n
Farm and G ct n Good Living From IL.

w
A Frenchmas ana His wife Cultivate n
Farm and et u Good Living From IL.
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 cultivated. The abrupt
side hills are in grape vines and the fiat
land in grain. Here we soc the phe.
nomenon OF double crops-a crop OF
grain and vegetables growing under
crop OF trees. The Normandy poplar
trees are from an inch to three feet In
diameter. They are planted thickly.
bR give no shade. They are trimmed
within six feet of the tops. The boughs,
which are cut off every year, make fag-
gots enough to warm France. We often
see men and women grading wheat or
koeing beets in the midst OF wood CIV
ing no shade. When you look across
tho country the tall, boughless trunks
look like black streaks painted against
The sky. They make the view very pic
turesque. Our farmers on the prairies
could plant black walnut trees where
they want fences, trim them to the tops,
preventing shade, aud then string harbed
wire on tho trunks for fences. At the
end Of fifty years the black walnut trees
on n mans farm would be worth more
than his farm Wood in France is sold
Jor third of cent a pound. 1t Is worth
MS much as corn in Kansas by the
pound. So when the Kansas man barns
corn, he is 10 more prohigate than the
Frenchman who burns faggote. 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 cook with. The average
'srr,er does not know enough to buy
coal or kerosene yet He does not live
"a well rs the poorest negro in the
South. He has no home comforts; pow
ertv aud ignorance are his companions.
France is literally one large garden.
Every inch Of soil il cultivated. In rid.
ing from Paris TO Dion, $50 miles, we
counted only thirty cattle. 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 800 feet wide and from ], 800
to 1000 feet long. There arc no fences
between them.
When | asked French farmer how
his farm happened, like all the rest, to
be so long and narrow lie said:
at has been divided up so often.
When n French farmer dies, he divides
his farm. and each one OF his children
has an equal share. He always divides
il lengthwise 80 ~ to give each one a
long strip. The long strips are easily
cultivated, because We pillow length.
ways. These strips always run north
and south, 70 that the sun can shine
into the rows"
GLOW large is your farm" ! asked.
"My fathers farm was 300 feet wide
and 1000 feet long. When he died my
brother had half. Now my farm is 100
feet wide and 1000 feet long. 1t is quite
large farm. There are many farms
much smaller than nine"
"What do You plant in it ?" asked.
"See over there" he said pointing to
what seemed to be y gigantic piece Of
striped carpet, "is a strip of wheat &C
feet wide. Then comes strip Of pota
toes % feet wide. Then comes 40 fee
Of oats, then 10 feet Of carrots, 90 feet Of
alfalfa 0nzerne), 10 feet of mangel
wurzes, feet Of onions, 5 feet of caba
ges, ard the rest is in flowers, peas
currants goosebetries, and vegetables.
"Can you support your family On {
fnrm $50 feet wide and 2, 900 feet long ?
asked; for the narrow strip seemed
like u mans dooryard in America.
Support my familv!" he exclaimed
"Why the farm is too large for lie,
rent part OF it now"
"But your house" said; "where il
tina, ~
ooh, that is in town. Five families
Of III live in one house there. My wifi
and come ont every morning TO worl
and so in at night"
'Does your wife always work in tn
field ?"
Eyes. My wife," he continued, point
woman, Mt least six feet around tn
waist, "she can do more work than
can. She pitches the hay to ME Oh th
stack. All French women work in tn
field. Why not9 They have nothing
to do ut home"
This is true. The wife of French
English, Irish, or German farmer la
nothing to do at home. They do nc
"keep house, like tho wives of Amer
can farmers. They have no houses t
keep. The huts they live in arc Xix
stables. They live in the same buildm
with their horses, hens and pigs. The
never wash floor. There is never
table cloth. They live like brutes. Th
handsome farmhouse off by itself, su
rounded by trees and gardens does NJ
exist in France. They live no BETH
and are really no better off than wei
the slaves of the South before the wa
French farmers always congregnte
little. tumble-down Villages situate
about two miles apart. These village
may have been built three hundre
years ago. The roofs are moss-coveret
the houses are dirty, and remind one {
country poor house in New Englaot
There are millions OF farms in Franc
containing from q quarter of an acre
four acres.
find that about an acre and Ia
is about all the most ambitious ma
wants. The rent for land is about on
half the crop. The land is worth abo'
800 M acre; or. il in grape vines, 500
This is why France is like gardel
In England. there are 227, 600 lHnlowl
ers; in France there are 1900. 900 Ian,
owners. The Frenchman on his tv
acres, with his barefooted wife cuttir
grain with sickle by his side, is hapl
and contentcd, because he knows +
better. Such degrading life Won
drive an American farmer mad. III
Frcnchman thrives because he spen,
nothing. He has no wants beyond Il
coarsest food and the washings of Il
grape skins after the wine is mad
Yes, he is thrifty. He saves money to
The aggregated wealth of 100000 On
poor, degraded barefooted peasan
nnnkea Eranca rich The Ignorance of n