Evening star., 1917-03-11
special Correspondence Of The Star.
PARIS. March 1, 1917.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
PARIS. March 1, 1917.
a oAKING two blades of grass
MMl grow where one grew before
UWIi is admitted to be worthy
SVS work. Making tons of food
grow where none grew before Is the
wholesale application of the same ad-
mirable effort In Europe food is
very serious matter in these days OF
labor diverted from the farm to the
firing line, and Of transportation tor
pedoed by an enemy or monopolized by
military necessity. Like conditions
never will exist in the United States.
war or no war. but there are lessons to
be learned from Europe, and especially
from France.
In various American cities the mere
sense of efficiency long ago started
movements for the employment of land
held idle by real estate spectators.
vacant-lot farming has been tried in
Chicago, New York, Detroit and other
cities, with astonishing results of pro-
duction from hitherto waste spaces. In
Europe. in these days. there is grim
necessity for the exercise OF real eff1-
cheney.
The German campaign was largely
based upon the thought that through
the submarines at sea and clever man
euvering of armed forces upon land
England and France might be cut OF
from their food supplies, lessened as
their production would be by the en-
ployment of their strongest male popu-
1ation on the firing line. By poetic
trick Of fate, however. it is Germany,
and not England and France. which
really has felt the pinch of hunger, and
one of the reasons why the English
men and Frenchmen have not felt it
more severely has been the fact that
they have created new sources of sup
ply. The cultivation of waste land has
been one of the principal strategies of
France.
About the plan which France has fol-
lowed the writer had a long talk the
other day with NJ. Ducrocq of the min
fstry of agriculture.
We have been devoting our atten-
tion. of course. to winning the war"
said NJ. Ducrocq. land every ounce of
our energy which it has been possible
to devote to that purpose has been
given to it, but necessarily the soldier
must find much time hanging idle on
his hands. In many of the zones. where
II is necessary to keep fighting men,
weeks pass with no fighting to be
done. when not even preparation for
fighting is a possibility, for all that can
be done already has been done.
The French soldiers so situated do
not beat their swords into ploughshares
exactly, but they lay down their rifles
twhere they can be quickly found. 1
admiD and turn to the cultivation of
the land through which they have dug
trenches. which later they may be
called upon to defend with their lives
] cannot venture even an estimate of
the vast quantities of foodstuffs which
have been produced in this way
throughout the active war areas of
France.
'The agricultural effort of the SOL
dters upon active duty has been con-
nned to the cultivation of what may be
called Kitchen garden produce"
1t should be understood that NJ.
Ducroca had experience in similar
activity before the war began. Long
ago. in peace time. he became convinced
that the labor of properly cultivating a
Kitchen garden would be restful and
beneficial to the health of many work
men. and that the produce of such gar
their everyday diet. which. unless they
themselves produced it, they would
have to go without Before the war
M Ducroca was the president of the
of Workmen's Gardens. For him to
adapt the work to the vast numbers Of
soldiers stationed in the great zones
which have been abandoned by the civil
population and which therefore
naturally would be expected to be non
productive. was logical thing.
Large areas thus have been culti-
vated.' he said, 'in many instances ex-
tending right up to the firing line. OF
course. it is true that this agricultural
effort has been secondary to the mill
tary effort and that the cultivators
frequently have been obliged to stop
their cultivation, so that they might
proceed with the more essential work
Of lighting Germans. but the produce
Of the areas cultivated from the time
Of planting to the time OF cropping has
been sufficiently extensive materially to