Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-04-23

northern France, well Watered n
we'll drained. Tho average yield IN
wheat an acre has been in former
years about twenty-five bushels an
acre, but the Germans told me that
with their system" and are they ex-
pect to increase this to about thirty.
five bushels an acre, counting In the
bits Of land that are now being cult.
waited for the first time. They have
about $4,000 acres under cultivation in
wheat. so the harvest should give
them about 100000 bushels. OF
course, the civilians will have a share
ct this, but even 80 there will be an
immense profit for German efficiency
and forethought.
AT Attigny we TOOK horses and rode
out across the fields to a hill on which
the soldiers were using one Of the
French t%hreshing machines for grain
that had been found in the fields when
the army arrived. It was one Of the
old type Of machines with a horse
treadmil to supply the power. Sol
diers were doing the work and the
first thing that I noticed about these
soldiers was that they had IN blue
uniforms instead OF the usual gray.
asked why, and one Of the officers
said that it vas q sentiment with
the soldiers. They were proud of the
impression the gray-green uniform
had made on the world and would
not use it for anything but War. These
blue uniforms were the undress OF
the army used at home when not in
active service.
No Civilians In Sight.
The threshing machine was work.
ing steadily, but there were no civil.
ians in sight. l asked If the army
was going to have all this grain, and
was told that the soldiers got a third
and the other two-thirds vas to be
turned in to the mayor to be used for
the civilian population. This same
rule is carried out all over Chat part
of the country where wheat has been
found In the fields.
From that threshing machine we
went to another, which the majo.
proudly told me was made in Ger.
many" 1t was placed in a nearby
village under q shed, and q crowd OF
peasants had gathered around to
watch it work. Some Of them told
me 1t was the first that had been seen
in that part of the country. 1t was
run by a little steam donkey engine,
and would be the usual sight in any
wheat country in the United States,
but its capacity was Ave times that
of the horse machine we had exam.
ined. first, and It's output something
Hike. ten times as great.
There was q baling machine at.
tached to make up bundles of straw
for the ,men and horses in the
trenches. G .lG
From there we went along through
the village to an Enclosure where
many farming machines had been col.
lected from the fields. For the most
part they were ploYs and harrows
that had been brought in from miles
around, and the names Of. the makers
we're Belgian, French and many Of
them American. The officers told me
that they had been left in the fields
by the French soldiers at ascertained
distances apart so that the artillery
OF aeroplanes making them out from
above as they were lying in the fields
and seeing soldiers a them could
get the range for the, guns. The Ger.
mans said that they, soon "got wise"
to this system, and thereafter tho
soldiers Stunned the ploWs as If they
were signs Of the plague.
Many Motor Plows.
On the way back to Sedan they
showed us some Of the is motor plows
which the Third army has in opera.
ton, and told me that more were be-
ing sent on from Germany every day.
They still did not have sufficient ma
chimes for the. number Of men that
they were able to spare for the work.
l was told that the army farther west
had IS Of these plows at work during
the month Of February, so ! Judged
that extensive agricultural work was
going on there as we'll. The plows are
Of German manufacture. They were
using six pillow points on the machines
that I examined, and I was told that
the engines were of Is horse power.
They could prepare about ten acres
Of land a day with one Of these plows.
and all the soldiers who were used
for this work had had experience be-
fore they joined the army, SO that
they were proficient and able to work
rapidly.
When we reached Sedan 1t was
afternoon milking time, and ! went
over the army diaries with the major
who was in charge. l could not help
wishing that this farming and this
dairying, SO perfectly organized and
carried out by the soldiers, was the
real object for which the German
army was trained and disciplined. The
dairy at Sedan was the former stable
OF a French regiment Of cuirassiers,
but the Germans had put in concrete
floors and partitions where none had
existed in the old days.
The large 'shedlike structure which
had been the regimental riding school
had been turned into the army butcher