Putnam patriot., 1908-06-12
THE PUTNAM pATRio. Iune II 1908
Lure ni fhe Land

a> >tfohSlN In England just now a> IL l> in this country There is little Berkshire farm of five acres which, though only about haif of ii Is ander ! eaitiN ation, affords a good living for l the two girl owners, Miss Jones and
 Miss Peel, fer their French gardener, his wife and family snd fer she pupils who are studying their meiFiesis of far ming To an American that statement sounds rather incredible, but it is quite true. Il shows what intense farming will do.
 \ curious sight k this little Befk- shire farm. Ne. an inch of the fields under cultivation is wasted. some of them are covered with bell-shaped ar-
 engagements of glass, called cioehes, un- der which the young lettuce and cag-
 rots and caulifiowers, and So forth. are forced. 1t k all market gardening, and il pays Where there are not eloehe> there are glass covered frames, full of growing vegetables. When there is a cold storm these frames are covered
 with French mats, and during one of i the hardest snowfall> last winter the temperature under these frames was kept, by means of the mats, up io so degrees. So carefully is ihe ground under these frames and cloehes neuf- I ished that il returns three fine crops a year.
 It was the success of the French in intensive gardening that led Miss Jones and Miss Peel to go into vegetable rais. ing on the same principle. French gardeners have been known 10 sell Sl ,5o0 worth of produce oil an acre in year, and these English girls argued that if the French could do il, they surely could. They had not much cap ital but they had enough 10 enable them to take five acres of land of That cham, in Berkshire, and to engage a Frenehman who knew all about gar. dening on the close cultivation plan.
 It was only last November that the farm was started. but already there is a brisk market for everything these energetic young women have to sell. N hat i, more, not I few people in the nelghborhood of Thatcham are follow ing their example, or planning to, and as to pupil helpers they have more ap. plicants than they can take.
 Or course gardening on this principle requires endless patience, industry that never flags and careful attention ta eN- cry smallest detail. \ man cannot be a successful farmer on the close caltiva- ton plan and spend his time holding up the side of the corner grocery in the nearest village, or settling the affairs of the nation sitting on the top oi a dry-goods box. He has got to work. The two girl owners of this little Berk. shire farm work. They have even be- come carpenters, and they make their own vegetables frames. But first and foremost, they take care of their soil, which they consider their wealth. That is the French idea-so thoroughly un- derstood in France that in that coun- try it is often agreed upon between landlord and gardener, that the eutgo- ing tenant may take away his soil 10 the depth of about IS inches.
 Another interesting agricultural eN- pertinent is being tried al Bredon Norton This is an attempt to combine intelleetuaIism with agriculture. The experimenter, Miss Woodruff, has al ready started horticultural college al that place, and now she is organizing q dairy, an apiary and club. The mem bers of the last need not take part in the activities of the colony unless they like. but their presence there Will ofing to the other residents of the colony euf- rents of thought and interest that oth- erwise they might be able to enjoy only in a large town. Some members ot the club may visit it only occasionally others may use il for meal now and then when passing that way, and oth- CTS may make il an objective point for a motor expedition. Such members will naturally bring with them new thoughts and new life, and thus one of the main disadvantages of rural Il e will be obviateG. Al the same time the club members and visitors will un- doubiedly become interested in rural life and rural pursuits.