The Penn's Grove record., 1919-10-17
DIR. LIPMAN RETURNS FROM
FRANCE
Finds A Way For New Jersey Expert
ment Station to Help France

Going over some OF the
Northern France almost a year after
the armistice was signed, l saw sllght
evidence that any cultivation OF the son
had been begun. German prisoners
were filing in some of the shell hoIes
and helping the very few French peas
ants who had returned,to start thelr
agricultural life again. But for the
most part this territory is strangely
silent and neglected and fills the traV-
eIler with a sense of desolation.'
Or. ]. G. Lipman, Director of the New
Jersey Experiment Station who return
ed on october LIST from a three months
study of the soil and fertilizer condl-
tions of Europe, has a large fund OF
6rst-band knowledge on the agrlcul-
tural situation in France, England Bel
GUM. Holland, Norway, Sweden, Den
mark. and Germany.
An unusual opportunity to help the
French Government and at the same
time to carry on some very v~aluable re-
search work has been afforded the New
Jersey Agricultural Experiment station
Dr T.ipman has arranged with the
french Ministry of Agriculture for the
sending of 2 lots of soils from each OF
the territories dIOulu u
scissors and Amiens. One lot of eacn
will be from a field not afecteo os
shell fire and the other from one whose
surface has been churned by shells ana
saturated with gas. Investigators al
the station will then aim to sho"
whether Smelling has really injured the
soil chemically, a question when Is pc
ing asked continually.
.oThe direct contact of the expert
ment station with the farmer which we
have in this country is not 1ouhu III
France" DR.. Lipman went on TO say
.Tbere is little or no teaching done oy
the men in the stations, who are thus
able to pursue research problems I'M
disturbed. One disadvantage of such a
system. however, is that the tnvestlga-
tors often miss an opportunity for pfac-
+ical application in education and pro-
duction."
DR. Lipman who spent almost four
weeks in France took every opportun-
inv TO observe the French farmer, whom
he declares to be even more of an in
~dividualist than the American farmer
In BIois, however, he discovered an eff
f~4ctive farmers cooperative o~rganiza-
ton comprising a federation OF local
svndicates. the total membership of
which was $1,000. Eighty percent OF
the business done by the m OF
the region is handled by the syndicate
which not only buys and sells Tor us
members, but maintains a workshop
for the repairing of machinery at GER
tain stipulated prices,
FARMERS were complaining in both
France and England that the dry ana
cold weather early in the season had
caused the worst crop in 80 years
However, "Dr Lipman added, L OBJ
served on some of the larger farms IN
England and Scotland, fields of wheat
which averaged sc bushels to the acre.
and in France there were some Whlch
averaged 40 bushels. The large farms
in Europe are on the whole better man
aged and more progressive than the
small farmer in America; the farm hand
there is of a lower order of intelll-
pence than the hired man in this coun-
trv. He is much more poorly paid and
l. nractically without education"
When in Copenhagen as the guest Of
Dr Ravn. one of the leading plant pa
biologists of Denmark, DR.. Lipman had
the good fortune 70 u { IC9SH
meeting of the leading soil investiga-
tors from Norway, Sweden, Denmark
and Finland, who were coming together
at that time to organize the "Sol IN
vestigation Society of Scandinavia and
Finland"
1.-THE tendency of all these coun-
tries" DR.. Lipman remarked in, speak
ing of Scandinavia, has been to speed
mn production. There seemed to be
plenty to eat in Denmark, but in the
short stay which I was permitted IN
Germany I observed that food was both
scarce and high"
The hig cost of feeding stuffs for
dairy cattle is one of the problems
which is menacing Europe. With lin
seed oil meal at 1920 to S125 a ton, the
dairymen in France have been keeping
their cattle mainly on ~pasturage. Dur
ing the coming winter this will result
in a shortage of milk, with consequent
suffering, especially of children.
DR.. Lipman spent two weeks in the
scandinavian countries and about the
same amount of time in England and
Scotland. In Germany he was permit
ted only a short overnight stay, but
made the most of his time to observe
rural conditions there. He has now
resumed his duties at the Experiment
Station and State Agricultural College.