New Britain herald., 1917-11-06
WILL HAVB TO BE CAREFUL.
The Soil of France Full of Explosives Deadly to Future Agrd-
 CulturlStS.
(N. Y. World Correspondence.)

(N. Y. World Correspondence.)
 A<great deal of careful spade work will be required in the northern part of France. Old battlehelds covered with wild flowers, as have seen them lately, are in wide stretches 8 slumbering menace. Months after the war is over. naval men have told me, mines will still make voyages perilous in certain sea areas. For perhaps many months more 1t would be equally as perilous for a farmer 1 to plough these once fertile fields in the great wars battle swept areas.
 Here and there are danger signals indicating unexploded mines. And the immense power of these mines is easily gauged by looking at the enor- have been "blown.'' The war has gone on it's way and left these sou- venirs of its density and deadli- ness. Here, there and everywhere are unexploded shells. German min nies," or Boche "jampots.''
 What can g. 'jampot'' do? l was talking with an officer today who was in a first line trench early in the war when one of these internal ma- chimes was lobbed over from the German lines. It struck it's nose in some soft mud and did not explode It was permitted to rest in peace by the battalion then in that part of the line. Another battalion came. and one man decided to fire into 1t with his pistol to explode it and thus re- move the ever present menace. The bullet pierced it, but it did not ex- oIo another shot, and they found noth- ing of him after the second shot.
 Leave it alone,'' is a good motto when visiting battlefelds A "dud" ehell may be temperamental. That Is why this churned up battle area will require a lot of careful spade work before it will be safe to put a plough into 1t and give the mules or horses free head.
 have seen most of the battle fields in the bleakness of winter as we'll as under the spell of spring and summer. ToGay I was pleased when l saw a small mound of wild flowers near brook. When I came closer I found the wild flowers were grow ing about a clump of old German sand bags and barbed wire. It was only slight indication of what a vast labor it will be to clean up these steelSwept stretches of once fertile farm lands.
 There Is considerable work of sur- face cleaning progressing now. Big piles of barbed wire and war equip ment of other varieties attest to that fact. Tn some places I have seen the swarthy-skinned natives of the East at this work. But all human effort seems dwarfed by the spectacle of endless spaces of churned up earth; shell holes big enough to swallow team of horses and a big farm wagon. Hills and valleys have been made where they never before existed
 Perhaps they will make 1t 2 park" said an observer at my side as we traversed the Somme battlefield one day. But it would be a terrible park if those gaunt, stark trees are not dynamited.
 It Is difficult to imagine a tourist army traversing such a park without heavy casualties unless 1t was made safe" in advance by the removal of all those implements of war which might form an irresistible source of souvenirs. The Germans have made use of a grenade with a handle to 1t similar to the potatomasher. Very remarkable consequences might re- suit from stuffing a hand grenade into tourists pocket something similar to what did occur at 8 hospital out here on an occasion when green hand stuffed pair of khaki trousers into an lncineratory only to demolish the incinerator when hand grenade ] in one of the pockets blew up.
 Meteorological experts have told me that, dishevelled as the surface of Northern France may be, it will not eventually have a marked effect on the climate of this region. The destruction of trees may, they say, have slight effect on rainfall
 But who will put back in their proper places the hills that once were?