The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-09-25


Times)
The New York State Woman!
Land Army will open a ten-day drive
for 100000 supporting members OF
next Wednesday, Sept. Is. The drive
brings up the question, what has
the land army done to meet the labor
shortage on the farm?"
Land army advocates and leaders
are constantly being asked to answer
these queries, Can woman take a
mans place on the farm, is she
strong enough to perform mans la
Dor in the fields?', Does not the
eight-hour day which the land army
insists on prevent her from being
useful to the farmer, who works
from sunrise until sunset?"
These questions are being answer.
ed every day in the forty Land Army
Units Tor camps) of the State where
upwards of thousand women and
girls are doing almost every form Of
farm labor that has hitherto been
done by men, and doing it SO eff1ci.
emily that the farmers who employ
them are booking them for return
engagements next year.
Mot nn1u orn thnu oh1a -.
weed, run tractors, harvest hay and
grain, gather fruit and vegetables,
act as orchardists, fill the farmers
silo, feed his chickens, clean out their
coops, milk his cows and do the
work of unskilled labor on dairy
farms; they are actually thriving un-
der it.
A QUESTIONABLE sent out by the
New York State Womans Land
Army to supervisors of the forty
camps in the State has brought some
interesting information to the drive
campaign headquarters which have
opened at the Hotel Biltmore. Sup
ervisors who reported on the physical
status Of farmerettes agreed they
have gained in strength and weight.
Many have quoted workers to the
effect they were never in such fine
physical condition in their lives.
The result of the inquiry shows the
girls lose weight for the first week
or so after they join the units-that
they are dog tired at night" and
their muscles register in stiffness and
aches every new and unwonted move.
ment. But the tonic of outdoor life,
the contact with nature, the freedom
from mental strain and anxiety, the
long, dreamless nights of sound sleep
soon restore them to normal. From
this stage a bulding-up process be-
gins; muscles harden, lungs expand,
WEAKNESS and aches disappear, appe-
tites grow to alarming proportions
and after two or three weeks the
farmerette finds herself a pretty
healthy specimen, in danger of TAX
ing on more flesh perhaps than she
bargained for.
DR.. Ida Ogilvie, dean of the Won
ans Land Army Camps at Bedford
Hills and Mount Kisco, said recently
that of applicants for admission to
her camp, only 2 per cent. were re-
jected because they were not physic-
ally able to do the work. 1t takes
A per cent. of those who are accepted
about two weeks to get acclimated
and to harden their muscles. The
remainder of the girls drop quite
easily into the work without much
bodily inconvenience.
No girl is accepted as candidate
for farm work by the Land Army
without physicians certificate stat.
ing she can stand it; thus the in.
eligibles are weeded out before they
get to camp, but most physicians will
give even the apparently delicate an.
plicant a passport to camp, because
hard work in the open air is a recog.
nized panacea.
There is no standard type of farm.