The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1918-05-04


| get out into the country quite Boou
deal and while my time Is fnlly o.
cupied BY military matters, larnilns
and the condition OF the farmers mere
never ceases TO interest me. hau
often OF course heard and read great
deal OF the French farmers, or rather
peasants, but one really gets very
poor idea OF a people or their lie from
books While France has rich SOIL
and a climate very favorable TO agri-
culture, yet but AS per cent OF thelr
land Is workable; forests Is per cent
prairies II per cent? vineyards per
cent, and rs per cent uncultlyated.
So YOU see that from soil point OF
view IL Is scarcely as good as Clover
land.
We are located now in the poorest
part OF France, so far as the nature
of the soil Is concerned-part OF II IS
uncultivated and some that has been
cultivated Is now apparently abandon
ed for how long / was unable TO learn.
/ have seen 10 or 10 acres OF this poor
land that has been planted TO pine
trees. Yet IL Is hardly fair test 81
the soil 10 Judge 1t now. This land
has been under cultivation for two
thousand years or more-in fact his
tory says there were more people here
2 900 years ago than today. What will
Cloverland be like after 1000 years OF
cultivation.
Some of their methods are very
questionable farming as is done with
us. The best practice now in Amer
lea tends toward deep blowing, some
wanting to plow as deep as rs inches.
The French farmer does not seem to
plow over four inches deep. i have
seen a great deal OF plowed land and
none has been deeper than four inch
es. 1t would seem that 1000 years OF
such settling would have exhausted
this top layer Then too, they make
compost OF a great deal OF their stable
manure and these compost piles are
nearly always on the bank OF ditch
and | have seen a great deal OF the
water I'm such bitches colored with
the very richest part OF their manure
going 10 waste But they still keep II
up, whether from a habit that has
come down from one generation or
the other, or for some reason / have
been unable TO find out And / have
not yet learned enough French to
carry on "A conversation with them.
The town / am now ia is some i've
hundred feet above the surrounding
country. A high wall encloses it,
From the foot of the wall to the level
Of the surrounding country is very
rich soil-for this district IL Is all
cut up into little gardens. The sur
face is SO steep that many of their
gardens are enclosed with high walls
60 keep the soil from being washed
away Indeed great many of the
/ gardens seem 10 have been made af-
/ ter the walls were built up and then
! the soil filled in and leveled off. These
gardens cost an immense amount Of
/ labor 10 be made. but when once made
I they are there for all time-which is
/ the way they do things here. Now
/ these gardens are almost one contin-
uous hotbet enclosing the city, They
! have straw mats, which they use TO
cover them with at night. Last week
/ | saw cabbage plants In many Of
them six inches tall
The farmers are very active now,
! hauling out manure-compos and
! blowing The season Is a little back
ward this year They say that usual
ly that the last OF February the farm
ers are busy planting.
The grass Is getting green and in
deed the season looks something like
il usually does with Us the forepart
OF May
have been very much interested
In seeing French women gathering
dandelions On warm days in the
evenings you can see them every
where vending their way back to the
city with great baskets full OF dande.
lion, and a sort OF cress. They have
most magnificent roads. They were
mostly built for military purposes and
OF course. have paid the people splen.
didly with their high quality the year
around. While on the military sub.
jet | would like to say 10 you thai
IL almost pays to have war to free
the people OF Europe from the uncal.
culable burden OF militarism. Every.
where you turn you see Just millions
OF dollars that have been spent e
protect themselves from the attack o.
some hostile neighbor. III all this
money could be used for purposes tina
would produce human comforts how
infinitely better the entire human
family would be For the world Is Sc
connected up that II any part OF 4
suffers the entire world must feel il
have been very much more i'm
pressed OF the justice OF this wa
from another viewpoint There wa
quite a shortage OF meat. sugar, etc
in England. and here I'm France Their
are now no food cards in the large
, cities. Well now. II one nation yer,
small compared with all the othe
nations can so terrorize the world |
! certainly is most dangerous condi
ton and should be made impossible
If Germany can make the seas unsaf
as against the British. French an
American navies, and we must Civ
= In, then there Is no such thing as lib
. erty. freedom or equality in the world
The man that has few more gun
4 than his neighbors. or has a corner o
j. the instruments or destruction, can b
Q the biggest kind OF a despot
n | started TO speak about the road
and did not finish what i wanted {
n say. Tho roads are All thanked wit