The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-11-29
HOW THE FRENCH
SAVED THEIR HARVEST

Among the war recompenses that
will be handed down with greatest
pride from generation to generation
in French families are the diplomas,
now framed and hanging on the walls
of many a farm house, attesting how
the peasant women and farmers
wives, widows and daughters over
come war difficulties. The soil has
well repaid the effort and, thanks to
them, France is sure of another year
of ample living.
The actual cash returns will equal
a record year in time of peace though,
excepting oats and potatoes, the yield
was below the average.
The country of the Brie, which is
generally second only to the Beauce
in wheat production and first of all
for oats, stands at the head for both,
yet this crop was sown almost entire
ly by women, girls and boys too young
or men too old to shoulder rife.
They are proud of the crop for the
crops sake, but they don't seem to be
aware of the remarkable effort it re-
quired of them to do the fertilizing,
blowing, narrowing, seeding and har-
vesting. When one talks to them
about it, they tell him to go and see
the crop that Mademoiselle Marthe
Bon Feve got from 70-acre farm at
Serrigny- -Bresse, which promises to
constitute the record for girl farming
during the war when the yield is
finally measured. Like the soldiers
Of France, these heroines of the rear
take no praise individually; there are
so many, they say, who have done as
well.
German prisoners of war, volunteers
from the camps of informed civilian
Austrians and Germans, Annamites
imported from Indo. China, Kabyles
brought from the mountains of AL
geria, Sengalese from the West Afri-
can coast, few territorials on leave,
good many Partisan school boys and
last, but not least, the American self
binder helped with the harvest; but
with the exception of the self binder,
the help was available only in scat
tered spots.
A majestic porter of Riviera pal
ace hotel, who in time of peace wore
more gold braid than any general in
the war, and one of the head walters
of the best known restaurant in Paris,
bound wheat side by side on farm in
Beauce. Instead of the gold braided
uniform, the porter with his fellow
prisoners wore a suit of blue oyeralls
with the letters /. C. (standing for
Interned Civilian) on their backs to
identify them as Teutons in case of
disposition to escape. They earned
the equivalent of 45 cents a day and
were clothed, lodged and fed by the
farmer. Their fare was exactly the
same as that of the farmers hiring
them and of the soldiers guarding
them. That they were satisfied ap-
pears from the fact that, out of sew
eral thousand, only three of them
tried to get away.
The several thousand German sol
diers employed in the harvest gave no
trouble at all. To the great majority
of them French farm life was a reve-
lation and a satisfaction that found
expression in frequent inquiries as to
whether there was any prospect that
they might be allowed to establish
themselves in France after the war.
Not all of these improvised farm
hands make good harvesters though
they did the best they could.
After all it was the American self
binder that saved the harvest; with
out it much of the brave effort of the
women of France would have been
lost. Every machine was utilized to
its utmost capacity. In communities
farmers could not afford to buy one,
the commune procured a machine for
the common use of the farmers in
turn.
Traction plows aided only slightly
in the preparation of the soil. 1t is
the recognized necessity of the future
but the outlay required is too much
for the small farmer. Further or
ganization of syndicates for the pur-
chase of machines in common is nee
essary.
The elephants of well-known cir
Gus played the leading role in an ex-
pertinent at Lavilledieu-du-Te Temple,
near Castel-Sarrazin, which the peo-
pie of the region confidently expect
will revolutionize farming Hitched
to pillow, these animals replaced the
horses and oxen that were requisition-
ed by the army, and proved by the
regularity of their gait to be far
superior to either the horse or OK;
each animal did the work of three
yoke of oxen; whether they ate more
than six times as much the reports do
not tell. 1t is only the meridional
imagination of the region, however,
that contemplates the practical ex-
tension to France of the working ele-
plant.
The Star has heard some complaints
about boys riding their BICYCLES on the