The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-31
ARE WOMEN FARMERS?
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
BY Frederic J. Haskin. Director.
Washington, ID. G.
u-British Daughters of Martha.

1-BrftiSn DauSnterS u 1AoA e~'
Washington, July 31.-In Great
Britain the teaching OF agriculture "
women has been adopted as war
measure. Glasses in milking. cheese
making, poultry-feeding and hsnt
farm work are big feature OF every
village, town and estate. FARMERS
as a matter of patriotic duty, have
loaned their cows and horses TOT
such instruction; the agricultural col
leges are boarding women farm stu
dents in dormitories, and numerous
counties turnout England, Scotland
and Ireland have organized courses
Of farm instruction for women.
The AGRICULTURAL situation in Great
Britain is extremely serious. EVIL
IDENTIFY, the German U-boat maneuV-
ers were not anticipated in the early
part of the war, for England let ner
food production diminish to dis-
tressingly small output before she
realized her danger The soil, much
of which had lain idle, had to be
treated, and many remedial measures
had to be instituted before food-pro-
duction could be restored to a norman
basis.
The training of women farmers
was one of the first measures to De
undertaken, inasmuch as the country
had sent nearly all it's farm hands to
the trenches. House to mouse can
vases were made by war committees
to induce young girls to attend classes
in farming and to induce farmers TO
employ them. Some counties inStf-
tuted a public registration OF women
who were willing to undertake war
labor on the farms, and Of farmers
who were willing to employ sucn la :
Dor. When these measures dld not
prove successful, the county govern
ment appealed to the national gov
eminent. which then took a hand.
The agricultural subcommittee OF
the county co-operated with the war
agricultural committee of the whole
| nation in preparing a scheme which
has helped to solve the problem Nat
| turally the farmers were DUBIOUS
about hiring girls who had never seen
COW, who did not know roots from
vegetables, and who could not hanole
| horses So the government overcame
| this difficulty by training the girls
| They were sent to approved farms
turnout the country, where they nad
to agree to remain eight weeks. me
first four weeks were regarded as q
| period of instruction. While the girl
was getting acquainted with the ma
ture of the COW and intricate dairying
processes, the government PAID ner
wage of ten shillings week. For the
next period of four weeks, however.
the farmer had to pay the wage. since
it was assumed that by that time the
girl would begin to be really useful.
Then there are so-called patr1otic
gangs, made up of a leader ana sew
eraI girls, who travel about the coun-
try from one farm to another nelplns
with various harvests. Sometimes they
pick Strawberries on one farm; milk
cows on another; work in the nelds
of yet another, and then end the sea-
son by harvesting hops. Many OF the
women in these gangs are of the leis-
ure class in peace times. They have
never done anything more strenuous
than to knit stockings and caps Tor SOL
diers. For them the experience Is
nothing less than revolutionary. Wnen
your life has been comfortable rou-
tine of chocolate in bed at ten IN the
morning, shopping at twelve, lunch
con at one, knitting and a drive thru
the park in the afternoon, with dinner
and bridge in the evening. 1t Is con-
siderable change to rise at O'CLOCK In
the morning, pick strawberries until
noon. eat a small smack" and spend
your afternoon cleaning stables and
churning butter; then milk the cows
and go to bed Immediately after sup
per. Physically, it does not seem to
hurt the women, and II even seems 70
I improve their mental attitude
This farming opportunity has also
wrought a tremendous change IN the
| lives of other women-Women VINO
leave the crowded congested quarters
of the city to work on farms. 1t has
brought a unique change in labor con-
ditions of the city. Places that were
formerly filled by women are now fill
ed by men, who either from disability
or age, are unfit for military duty
| Thus young ladies who used to work
in the department stores, millinery
| establishments and tea shops of Lon
! don are now to be found farming In
Devonshire and Sussex, while old men
| are filling their places in the city.
Moreover, women who have always
lived on farms but who have always
been assigned to housework, thai
alone being considered their appro-
pirate occupation, may now be found
| driving their brothers and fathers
ploughs and taking an active part II
the shearing of wool. On one farm
in Sussex a young woman, recently
returned from a fashionable boarding
school, has insisted upon managing
the work on a fifty-fifty basis will
her father. She is assisted by a young
dresSmaker and a middle-aged mil
liner from London. The three womer
and the one man do all the worl
there is to be done on a twenty-five
acre farm.
On a farm in another county wo
man has recently been employed tt
look after the cows, of which Their,
are a large number, dairying being
the principal means of income Tn,
farmer who employed this woman re
ported to the agricultural and sub
committee that his cows had never
! DoSI III SuCu SOOO COHQ1llOH anu NAT
never yielded so much milk as the,
had since this woman had taken tn,
care of them. Thus there is wide
spread recrudescence of the milk
maid in England.
Even before the war, agricultur
was urged as a profession for womel
by many people in great Britain
Women themselves suddenly SCENE,
to develop an ambition in that di
rection. Various agricultural school
for women were started by one per
2 son and another, one very good on
in particular by the Countess o
Warwick. In other parts of Europ
farming has always been one of tn
principal-if not, indeed, the princi
pal-occupation for women. Rus
sian women for centuries have tile,
; the soil by the sides of their hus