The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-06-29
Six Weeks On q German
Farm Told BY Pie. Scott

This article was written by
Private j. A. Scott, the Cana
dian escaped prisoner of war,
who recently spoke at the Or
pheum theater in Fargo, Of his
experiences as a German pris"
oner. Private Scott originally
wrote this article for Farmers
Advocate and Home journal" OF
Winnipeg, and The Forum pub
fishes it by permission of the
author.
The sun was shining brightly and
a cool wind waved the growing crops
gently to and fro, and as trudged
along that welI-m made German road,
it was hard for me to realize that
I was a prisoner Of war in the
hands of the enemy. It was the end
Of June and 1 along with eleven
more had been brought frim Minden
where we had been interned, to lab
or on the farms in Westphalia.
had been three weeks in this district
now, and was rapidly becoming &C
quainted with the German methods
Of farming. The people amongst
whom 1 labored were Of a peculiar
religious sect and adopted a semi
uniform as their national dress. The
dresses of the women were trimmed
with rows Of black beads round the
bottom. The bodice was black or
green, trimmed with lace of various
colors, and for head gear they wore
a high conical hat from which stood
out on each side, enormous black
bows, fully a foot and a half long,
and eight inches wide, and to COM
plete the uniform they wore an apron
OF a light green color. When work.
ing in the fields, the hat and apron
were not in evidence, but white or
pink handkerchief was bound around
the head and ears, leaving only the
front part Of the face exposed When
you saw the women with their heads
uncovered you were at once struck
with the contrast between the color
Of their skin. The front Of the face
was Drowned by SUP and wind, whilst
their ears and neck were Of daz-
Zling Wilderness. was not much
impressed by their looks. The men
were for the most part soberly at
tired in black This dress must hava
been in vogue for ages.
The farmer I was compelled to
work for was fairly well to do, and
he owned about 100 acres Of land,
which were all under cultivation. In
of meadow land from which he cut
his crops Of hay, one IN July and the
other in the beginning of October.
The farmhouse and buildings Used to
house the stock were all uader one
roof, and the whole made one huge
structure similar In appearance to
our barn in Western Canada. The
end OF the building where the house
was situated could be entered by
either one Of the two doors, and was
very cosy and comfortable, whilst
at the other end entrance was gained
through huge gate, which permitted
teams and wagons to pass through.
On entering the gate you found
yourself in a large courtyard.
On the right was the cow-shed
where twelve to fourteen fine mich
cows were munching away at the
clover which was cut fresh every
day. The COWS were chained up all
day and the only time they went
outside was once a week, when we
would clean out the shed. This was
done by hitching a horse on to a
huge four pronged rake. The prongs
were stuck into the bedding and ma
nure which was to be removed, and
the horse would drag it outside, two
or three hundred pounds at a time.
1t was then spread carefully out on
the manure pit which was built
especially for that purpose. Some
of the cows were MIXED three times
a day, the others only twice. On
the end Of the COW shed was the
concrete; was we'll lighted, drained
and ventilated AS soon as the
young ones were weaned they were
placed in compartment Of their
own, and their progress carefully
watched. On the other side Of the
courtyard there were three loose
boxes where the horses were kept. A
mare with foal was in one, whilst
the others were occupied by the re-
manning two horses that were do
ing the work that summer Western
farmers will smile at the idea Of
two horses working even a farm
Of 100 acres, but they accomplished
it with ease.
The farm was spread out a good
deal, 10 acres here, 30 there, and so
on. AS the owner grew richer he
bought what he could. You could
work apiece of land in the morning,
and in the afternoon would have to
walk a mile to work another patch.
The community where was situated
went in for mixed farming, and in a
30 acre field you would find growing
rye, clover, turnips, mangelwurtZels,
etc. Very seldom was a large por-
ton Of land used for growing the
same thing. This was, no doubt, on
account Of the crop being for the
most part. cut by a scythe and bound
by hand. The crop had been put in
that spring with a small seeder, and
that and a mower that I saw there