The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-07
ITALY BLOOMS AS
WARS RUINS GIVE
PLACE 70 PEACE
of Vine and of Olive Is
Now Scene of Toll Which Is
to Make Country Lovely as
1t Was in Old Days.

to Make Country Lovely as
1t Was in Old Days.
SIENA. Italy, Nov Z. Especial Cor
.respondence Of Reciprocal News Ser
vice.)-0wing TO the variety Of its con-
figuration and the consequent variety OF
climate there Is scarcely any other
country in the world so small Ia its
number OF square miles which can pro-
duce 50 many kinds Of vegetation as
Italy From the mountains with their
pines, down over the hillsides and lower
slopes covered with chestnut trees, to
the plains where the palm and the or
apge flourish, with the moderate tenn
p~eratures in between where the olive
and the vine grow everywhere, the soil
Yields generously to him who will AXE
the trouble to cultivate II. Wheat and
corn are spread over all the land, some
times in tiny patches on steep slopes
where n wonders that the contadini
do not fall off as they till the little
fields, or in wide extended plains IN
Lombardy, where American machines
help IN the work Of planting and reap
lng. Wheat, corn, oil and wine, these
four are Italy's greatest source Of
wealth, especially the latter.
Almost all fruits, except those eNClu-
sively tropical, are grown in Italy, and
there Is a greater variety Of vegetables.
Nuts are plentiful, and form one Of the
exports from certain places, while the
chestnut, which clothes miles of hill
sides, erves with its fruit to nourish
thousands of persons through the win
ter.
Country's Food Short.
Yet in spite of all these advantages,
Italy is at the present moment short Of
food of almost every sort, and it looks
as though the coming winter would be
a hard one. The reason is easy enough
to understand; the same reason which Is
affecting all the European countries, in
greater or less degree, and the RENEE
dies necessary to relieve the present
situation, though they are well enough
known, are not so simple in their APP
plication.
A very large part of the armies Of
Italy was made up of cOntadini, men
who in a large majority of cases left
only women and children and old people
behind them to carry on their regular
work of cultivating the soil. Conse-
quently crops were not sufficiently
planted nor thoroughly titled and scarce
ly fertilized at all. The women on
whom the largest share Of work fell
were often the mothers Of large fam
lies, overburdened with care, worn out
before their time, and although always
accustomed to help in the field work
and do n great part Of 1t, were quite
unable to do Ii all. When one realizes
that q large number Of the Italian farms
are dug up with a spade, and cultivated
without the help of any machines, and
that water has often to be carried from
long distances. and sometimes fails al
together through the midsummer, n
can understand the normous diff
cultles in The way of these women. II
is true that there were various times
Of fuTlough given tofthe men to CoIne
home and help at sowing ,or harvest
time. but this by no means entirely re-
lieYed the women who were so bTavely
carrying the burden from one weary
day to another. And many of them were
very ignorant, and not only very tired,
but exhausted with anxiety for their
loved ones in constant danger of death,
and they could not possibly compre-
bend how much depended on their MAX
ing still further almost s~upcrhuman eff
forts TO keep things up to their old
standards.
View From Terraces.
From our terrace. which commands
n wide view of the countryside. | have
watched with great interest, all through
the years of the war, rs the spring came
and things grew ereener to see which
patches of ground and which fields
would show signs of life and of things
having been planted there. ] hated to
see the long stretches OF brown earth
covered only with a sGanty crop OF
grass. But il was like that, all over
the land. There were really not enough
people to cultivate the soil and unfortu-
nately some Of those who might have
turned in and helped, would not, in
many cases, as 1t was work to which
they were not accustomed. And when
there were people who could have gone
out to do a days work, they wanted
excessive pay, for were not the NUM-
tion factories giving it?
Then, in the last year OF the war,
all Italy was taxed TO share in scanty
stores with the exiles and fugitives from
the invaded districts. Some of these
refugees, many in fact, were willing and
glad to find employment on the farms
and in the fields, and in that way were
a help rather than an additional care,
but In most cases the sudden increase
Of the population of a community
meant less food all round, and more pri-
yations for the regular residents. do
not think there was much grumbllng
about this necessity, but OF course there
must have been some, for human nature
Is human nature. However, at this time
there was the magnificent help from
England and America, without which II
with the situation, But there was also
In Italy plenty of large-hearted, gen
erous hospitality and sympathy II a
general wish to do all that was posi-
BILE for the homeless exiles.
Plow and Plant.
Many of them We're good, industrious
people, and ready for anything. | know
of one case, for instance, where a lady
whose gardeners and contadini were
nearly all at the front would never
have had her planting done nor her
blowing finished il 1t had not been foI
a number of Nenetians who were able
and willing to do this work,
In spite. however. of these special
cases, and of the forced labor done by
Austrian and German prisoners, al
farm work languished, and the effect
Of this viii be felt for a very long
time. And very unfortunately, manS
OF the younger mel who had been con-
tent to grow UP to the work which thell
fathers and grandfathers and often AZ
their ancestors for many generations
had done, have come home from tins
war with new views. They are not
wiling to be tie humble c%ontadtn
they once were, nor to lead the labori-
Gus narrow lives of the farm. They
want other occupation, and to learr
other trades, and In short to become
something which they think more ele-
waited. They can not see that ltaly's
greatest future lies in her woods and
ftn1de aud that II iS her agriculture