Gunnison news-champion., 1918-02-15
TANKS WILL PLAY PART
IN AGRICULTURAL FIELD
Shell Holes Will Have No Terror for
Huge Caterpillars; Farm Land in
France Not Injured by Gases from
Battles
(By Lord Ogilvy)
In Denver Post

The tanks. besides their part in wal
have been used TO mobilize the finan-
cial resources of the empire. Lately
they were sent on tour 10 gather sub
scriptions 20 the British war loan, and
al Glasgow alone $40, ,00O, 900 was sub
scribed in one day.
His majesty's land ships promise 10
be as great in peace for the restora-
tion of the shell-pitted area as they
have proved in the advance, and TIL :
are 10 be used to navigate the hum
mocks and marshes, restoring then
TO a sufficiently level surface for cul-
tiyation.
An ordinary caterpillar engine can
overcome most obstacles. but It would
be drowned in some Of the shell hole.
The tanks, built on the same lines but
much larger scale, traverse the
easily.
Much has been written about the do
stroyed villages and towns, and h"
question is asked can they be restore
after the rayages Of war and ever MS
again? The answer Is easy. II TIL
farm land that supported them can b"
restored the towns will be rehabil.
tatcd.
Numbers Of pseudo scientific peoplD
told Us that the battle fields were 50
poisoned with noNious gases that they
are gone beyond recall. The enounou
crop Of weeds that almost Immediate )
covered them gave the lie to this rU,
and also TO the old subsoil haters who
turn 4 fit every time they see littlc
or much uncducated subsOil turned on
top.
On professor claimed that the Land
would b" deblItatcd by the admixturc
Of a great quantity of non-humus
bearing soil from below. but observer
state that FOR every pound of the later
thrown up by a shell from the apeX
fifty pounds Of humus-b bearing soil j.
scattered from the frustrum Of tn
cone which is torn out nearer its sur
face.
Omar khayyam wrote:
81 sometimes think that never blow
50 red.
The rose as where some buried
Caesar blcd."
And so il was with the fields OF
France that had been freed last year
Tho the blood red poppics were in The
ascendant. crops Of weeds, and graz
Of all sorts succeeded one another in
profusion, and where the land was till
ed. il gave better results than before.
The difficulties that confront the
farmer are physical, and the embed
ded wire among the greatest. The sol
has actually been improved by eAc
deep stirring. Volunteer oats grew
head-high, together with barley, and
wheat in a Jack Johnson hole. The
corn would almost have resisted the
advance of a tank in gardens that had
been turned and turned times without
number by shells. Petunias, snap
dragons, nasturtitums, and other fiOw-
ers grew as they seldom do under the
hands of skilled gardeners.
The first rough cultivation and a
great deal of consequent leveling can
be accomplished by the tanks drawing
harrows or what will be, in effect,
grubbcrs with huge steel teeth six
inches or foot apart. This would
cope best with the buried wire. The
large metal pieces have enough value
to pay for removal.
Already the rains are helping to fill
the shell holes, but cultivation will
very much help to hasten the process
by loosening the soil and aiding the
action of the elements. Meantime the
holes supply a certain amount Of
drainage until this can be restored.
We are all familiar with the beauti-
full results Of dynamiting land on .
small scale, but We aim to leave it
level. The greatest drawback at first
will be the unevn contours, and it
would be far too expensive to restore
the land by hand labor, SO the tank will
be as great in peace as in war.
The sailor boys used to sing: al plow
the ocean, not the lea," but they soon
may be navigating the fields of France
and Flanders in his majesty's land
ships, with a pillow, harrow and seeder
at their stern, holding as true course
as on the ocean blue, or in North Sea
fogs, gales, and binding drifts. An
unexploded shell or two will offer but
little obstacle to those who for years
have braved the devil submarine and
floating mine.