Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-02-04
Area in France Back of British
Line viii Be Titled by SOL
dierS in Coming Spring and
Summer.
GAS POISONED SOIL
DECLARED PRODUCTIVE
Belief That Fertility Was
Ruined Contradicted; Unex-
pIoded Shell Danger Great
Iy Exaggerated,


London, Jan. 15.-The British war
office is making plans for carrying out
an agricultural offensive Oh an enor-
nous scale this spring behind the
cordiai cooperation of the French
government, thousands of acres of
grass will be plowed up, as well as
some parts of the old battlefields
British soldiers by the thousands will
be employed on the work, most of
them being assigned ito this labor dur
ing their period of reserve duty.
The food grown in this way will, If
the war lasts long enough, go to help
in feeding the British army. Ameri-
can tractor plows will be largely
used in the work of turning over the
ground.
Ground Bitterly Fought Over.
The area to be titled includes one
: of the most fiercely contested battle
grounds of the war Heretofore it
has been held that little could be done
for perhaps several generations to-
ward restoring these battlefields to
cultivation, owing partly to the soil
being poisoned" by asphyxiating
gases and high explosives and partly
to the fact that unexploded shells and
grenades would make plowing very
dangerous. But practical farmers do
not agree with this theory. An Ameri-
can farmer who recently visited the
whole Somme area studying the pos
eih af
ITO those who believe that the land
has been poisoned by gas and shell
fumes, l might point out that while
these fumes wilt fresh foliage, the ef-
feet is only temporary, rarely lasting
for more than a week or two. The
soil itself is not deletoriously affected.
LAS to the churning up of the earth
by bursting shells, I might point out
that sub-soil cultivation by the use Of
dynamite has been practiced in Amer
lea for several years. In all the world
! know of no soil more likely to bene-
fit by this process than that of north.
ern France, underlaid as it is by strata
of decomposing chalk.
Flowers Grow Freely.
Evidence of the fertility of these
battlefields is found in the wealth of
flowers and weeds with which they
are already covered. Never under the
hands of the husbandman have these
farms brought forth such verdure.
'I believe that the danger from un-
exploded shells is practically negli-
gible. A shell which has failed to go
off at the end Of five or ten mile
flight through the air is not likely TO
be disturbed by prod from a plow.
Moreover the explosive in a shell or
grenade deteriorates rapidly from
burial in damp earth. Buried barb
wire must be picked up, pulled up or
cut off as it is encountered. Concrete
fragments, heavy iron and the like,
will have to be picked up bodily and
carted away.
This leaves one problem to be solv-
ed-a practicable way of effecting the
first rough cultivation"
The first implement to be used
should be a harrow of enormous
strength, raking the earth to depth
of eighteen inches to two feet. 1t
could be hauled by a twenty-foot cable
from tank tractor. The next process
would be further smoothing of the
ground by means of string OF trac-
tor plows. After that the ground
would be ready for the ordinary pro-
Cesses of cultivation.