Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-15
FARMERS OF FRANCE
The Thriftiest of the Worlds
Agriculturists.
M ARKET GARDENERS
MAKE MONEY FROM TREES AND
FORTUNES FROM cHEsTNUTs.
Most Careful and Economical = Rail-
roads and Observation-Disclosures
Of French Taxation.
M ARKET GARDENERS
Copyright, 1902. by Frank G. carpenter.)

LIN VALLEY OF' R1ONE,
want to tell you something about the
farmers Of France. 1 have been travelling
for weeks through the different parts of
this country, and 1 am now on a train
speeding up the Rhone valley from Lyons
to Switzerland. The land is covered with
luxuriant crops. There are no fences. and
Natures great patchwork stretches out on
every side as far as my eyes can reach.
Just now we are passing some wheat in
which blood red peoples as big around as
a tea cup look out of the green. On the
opposite side Of the train is hay field
where women and girls are working side
by side with the men. and farther on is a
great expanse Of white beets in which are
women bent half double pulling thhe weeds
the women here work hard as the men.
They do all sorts of field labor, and you see
them scattered over every landscape. They
are more thrifty than the men, and they
are among the great savers Of the French
people.
The work among the farmers goes on
throughout the week and often on Sunday
as well. The fields are full Of Sunday
workers. While the church bells are toll
ing mechanics are plying their trades and
the ordinary stores and workshops are open.
Millions Of Land Owners.
have described England as owned by the
few France is owned by the many. There
are 100000 land owners among the 80 $780,
600 people which make up the French re-
public or almost a land holder to every
family. The average holding is less than
six acres. and thousands own little tracts
upon which they live, working a part Of
the year for some one else.
The French love their land, and 1t is this
common ownership that keeps them at
home. They are not an emigrating nation.
like the Germans and Italians or the En-
every year than Frenchmen leave, and not
withstanding this the people are about the
richest on the face Of the globe. They
were able to pay the enormous Franco
Prussian war debt without feeling it, and
they have now hundreds Of millions of dol
lars stored away in their wooden stock
ings under the rafters. They are prosper
Gus. although they have the largest debt Of
a quarter Of a billion dollars year. or al
most 81 per head, to say nothing Of the
taxes required for the necessary expenses
of the government.
Some French Economies.
The French are excellent farmers. With
them penny saved Is two pence earned,
and they see that nothing goes to waste.
They live as cheaply as any people Of
Europe. The average farmer starts out to
work on black bread and vegetable soup,
or he may have only bread and cheese and
a glass of wine. At noon he will have a
vegetable soup, and perhaps fried potatoes.
and in the evening the same. He has wine
at every meal for 1t is one of the cheapest
of drinks. Nearly every one keeps goat
but few drink the milk, for goats milk VIII
make cheese.
The farming is intensive. The wheat re-
gions produce almost twice as much on the
average as the wheat fields Of the United
States. Every bit of land is used, and moth
ing goes to waste. On the larger farms
A oat,tv &c rnyN1n
plows are bought, and also our mowers and
thrashers. President Loubet uses an Amer
lean reaper on his big French estate.
Money in Trees.
The French understand how to make
money out of trees. They appreciate the
value of the forests, and have some Of the
largest and best of the world. There
are vast wood lands belonging to the gov
eminent, and private holdings In which the
trees are as well cared for as In our city
parks Only the ripe trees are cut, and
every piece of fallen wood is saved.
The roads and streams and little canals Of
France are lined with poplars. I can see
long lines of them cutting the landscape in
every direction as look out of my car Win
dow. Some of the trees are hundred feet
high They are bare of branches, with only
a tasseI left on the top. Others are full
limbed, and others are Just sprouting new
growth all sides. These poplars are
grown for their branches, and are finally
cut down for wood or for furniture. The
branches grow rapidly. They are cut off
year after year, put up into bundles and
sold to the bakers to make the hot fires
necessary for the crisp crust on the French
bread. There is such demand for them
that raising them is one of the chief indus
tries of France The poplars are planted In
places which are good for nothing else, and
after five years each will annually produce
at least twenty cents. Later on the trees
are cut down and sold. Willows are grown
In the same way, their sprouts being
used for baskets.
Fortunes in Chestnuts.
The French make money out of chestnuts.
They grow varieties which are from two to
three times as large as the American
chestnut and sell them to the fruit stands
and the groceries. The chestnuts are used
to dress turkeys, geese, chickens and game,
and they are also used for dessert. The
confectioners make candy of them, and the
IL