The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-01-08
gadefsou gntelit0eueer.
FARMING IN FRANCE.
A French Peasnnt end Ills Farm 100 by
,I. 1900, a..

Dillon, ne pass through the best portion
ofFrGpce. For hundreds of miles every.
inch of land is cultivated The abrupt
side.hiils are in grape vines and the aat
land in grain. Here ne see the phenome.
non of double crops-a crop Of grain and
vegetables growing under q crop Of trees.
The Normandy poplar trees are from an
inch to three feet in diameter. They are
planted 'shickly, but give no shade. They
are trimmed within six feet of the top.
The boughs, which are cut of every year,
make fagots enough TO warm France. We
often see men and women cradling wheat
or hoeing beets in the midst of wood
giving no shade. When you look aeyoss
the country, the tall bppghless trunks
look like black sstreaks snsinIed against
the sky. They make the view very pic
turesque. OuF, farmers on .thsgprairies
could plant Black walnut trees where
they want fences, trim them up to the
tops, preventing shade, and then s'ring
barbed wire on the trunks for fences. AZ
trees on 4 hiaa's farm wwculd be worth
more than his farm! Wood in France is
sold for O third of q cent pound. So
when the Kansas man burns corn he Is
no more profligate than the Frenchman
who burns fagots. 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 farmer does not know
enough TO buy coal or kerosine yet. He
has no home comforts; poverty and igno-
rance are his companions. nr
France is literally one large garden.
Every inch of soil il cultivated. In
riding from Paris to Dijon, l30 miles, we
counted only 80 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 20
acres. They are usually from 80 to 800
feet wide, .epd from, 500 TO, 1000 feet
long. There are no fences between
them. la" ~ E"iass.'- ~ -
When asked French farmer how
his farm happened, like eli the rest, to be
80 long and marrow, he sRid:;
1T has been divided up SO often.
When q French father dies, no divides
up his farm, and each Of his children has
On equal aahIre. He always divides
ieDgthwise, 60 as to give each one long
strip"
"How large 10 your farm 2" l asked.
"My fathers farm was 900 feet wide
and 1000 feet long. When he died my
brother had half. Now my farm 10 150
feet wide and 1000 feet long. 1t IL quite
largo farm. There arc many farms
much smaller than mine."
"What do you plant In III" asked.
"See over there" he said, pointing to
what eeemed TO bc gigantic piece of
striPed earpet,c"is:5 Sif:p of wheat, 60
feet Vide Then Comes h.attip Of ipota-
toes 25 feet wide. Then comes 40 feet
Of oats, then ten feet of carrots, 20 feet of
alfalfa, (luzerne,) 10 feet OF mangel
wurzels,. 8 feet Of onions, 8 feet Of cab
bages, and the rest In flowers, peas, cur.
rants, gooseberries and little vegetablea.p
"Can you support your family on q
farm 15oEfeet wide and 1000 feet t'long 2"
Support my family9" he exclaimed.
"Wby the farm is too large for us.
rent part of IL out now" 1hni
"But your house." / said, "vhere is
"Ob, that is in town. Five families of
us live in one house there. My wiie and
Icotne out every morning to'work and
go in at night" - i ~ ,>g 53, sasJ,
."Does your wife always work in the
"Yes.i My. wife" he continued, point.
Ing to barefooted and bareheaded
woman, ct least six feet around tho waist,
"she can do moro work than / can. She
pitches the hay 70 me on the stack. All
French women work Id the field. Why
not2e They have nothing to do at home.h
This is true. Tho wife of French,
.Gs55iisss.i, EE:sh, oE German farmer has
nothing to do at home They do not
"keep house" like the wives Of American
farmers. They fiye In the same building
with their horses, heps ard pigs., They
never wash o floor. There Is never q
tablecloti. They live like brutAa. !.Tne
handsome farm bouse or by itself, eur.
rounded by trees and gardens doea not
exist in Farce. French farmers always
eongregato. IN little, itumbledown villages
Bituatet about two miles, apart, The
roof are moss!coVered, the houses are
dirty, and remind ono Of o country poor
house in New England.
There are D million of farms Ia EFauce
containing from atqunrter to four acrcs.
find that on acre and Q half ia about
rent for land 10 always one.half the crop.
The land Ia worth about $500 an acre;
or il In grapeyiaes $500.
:~sis tis slhSs Eyahcaisliks a.gsrden.
Z. E=ass!saa s66sE. aFs %: ,G aGGn llaaaswgass;
in France there are 2, 100000 landowners,
The FEenchnan on his two acres, with
kisbafefootad wifs cutting grain with
eickla hy hia hide, ishappy and contensed,
because so knows no better, Such do.
grading MS would drive afis American
farmers mask eiEes i Esenohman thriqes'
because he spends nothing. He has no
want beyond the escoaftest food and t&is
washipgs eS! the grape akane SITTER the wine
is made, Yea, he Ia thrifty, He saves