Lower coast gazette., 1913-09-06

. -
describe the rural conditions IN =
Prussia, one of the kingdoms Of the !,
German empire, and does not deal
with cooperation technically. The
photographs were taken by MI. A. y: :
Foster and are reproduced with his !.
permission. I.
Agricultural Germany looks like a
crazy quilt made up of little strips
Of varying sizes and shapes with but
tons sewed on here and there. The
strips are pieces of land, the buttons
are the villages. The German farmer
for peasant, the words meal the same
thing in Europe) does not own all his
land in one or two pieces as the Amer
lean does. The whole country is cut
into small strips, from 10 to 100 feet
wide and from 100 to 500 feet long.
Owing to centuries Of dividing prop
erty among heirs and of inter-mar-
rage, the fields which may once have
been large are now cut into many
parts, and though a peasant may own
$50 acres, it will be divided into per-
haps 200 strips. It is pure chance
if any two are adjoining, and as every
farmer plants what he pleases, one
may, in a half hours walk, pass ~
fields each with a crop different from
its neighbors.
The soil around Leipzig is a brown
ish clay, worth about $40O an acre.
Not long ago a farm of $50 acres with
buildings and equipment was sold for
s256,O 600. Almost no land is on the
a market at the figures named. The
y land is not naturally very rich, but
e has been wonderfully improved by
careful husbandry. The climate is
x had. 1t is too cool in summer for corr
IF TO ripen and there are many drouths
10 and hail storms. The chief crops are
Id rye. oats, barley, wheat, potatoes,
&c beets and hay. The strips are divided
S. by boundary stones, not by fences, and
o. the cultivation is SO intensive ina
each farmer plows right up to the
a line. The strips are SO small tina,
w little machinery is. used, and what
there is is not owned collectively. Ha,
to is cut with an old-fashioned scythe
he In his book Mr.. Won Engelken ha'
is. dealt with the defect of this system
or. of land owning upon agriculture.
Mt A great deal Of fertilizer is useo
sci natural and artificial. Germany use
to half the output Of the potash mine
us of that country-which supply tn
lch world)-as much as all the othe
we %natiors Of the earth put together.
IA SSThe villages are scattered thickl
'ed through the country. The houses al
au' of brick or stone, and the roofs al
of tile. The streets Tor roads, a
in crooked and irregular. Each hou'
pri- is built in the shape of a square WI
'eo- a large court in the center. In fro
led. are the living rooms, small but col
a Portable, and on the other sides q
Fair the tool houses, stables, etc. y
any houses are electric lighted. In t
con- center is the manure heap and IN
pile underground cement tank near by t
are liquid manure.
ton Every farmer has some cows, a
ton usually there are horses, hogs a
FAIR chickens as we'll as dogs. The m
from the locality Of which ! write
sold fresh in Leipzig. AS a mat
of fact, the lows are kept largely
have a kind of manure factory. The Ia
!, are is too valuable to use for pasture, 9
fraid when the hogs and cattle are put
with the barns they stay there. The ca
dealt are bedded knee deep in straw
lerta are fed fresh cut alfalfa and gr
like when it is obtainable. Consequel
/, be- the beef and pork is tender
the brings good prices. The hogs
.nted, mostly a cross with the Yorksf
'eace. The cows and horses are gene
ifcans purpose animals and are not Of
that special breed.
or to Germany has increased her pro
.pable ton "a ner cent in the last dec
ity. and is proud OF, her record. With
area smaller than Texas, She
,duces e5 per cent of the food for
population of 6S,OOo,O0O. And
is done in spite of the fact that
nm fourth the empire is in forest
there is much land which ann
= cultivated. Fertilization and the
stock industry have already zen
ia toned as factors in this evolt
Beet culture has also done much
land must in any event, be b
n 1aces deeply because of the drouths,
!gelkeh the beets pay for the chemical
!. Won lizer besides leaving the pulp
aos 60. tho cattle. The ord
Oh ms rotation is beets, summer gram
anu ter grain, then beets again.
tive Of .tost rea son for the agricu
age flu an,ouanent Is the industry
o.n,snv people.