The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-03-07
SMALL FRENCH FARMS
AND FRENCH FARMERS
seen IN THEIR HOMES
MIR. Homer Green Writes an
Interesting Letter
French Thrift and Habits AS Seen at
Close Range. Even Cow Power"
is Conserved i'm France, Yet Not
as Progressive as United States.

is Conserved i'm France, Yet Not
as Progressive as United States.
Leffal lie Grand, Vosges, Jan. 2l' 1919
Mr.. A. N. Mayes,
Marietta, Ga.
Dear Newt-Your nice long letter
received and enjoyed very much, ex-
cept that list of questions. l don I
know how l will answer all of them
I received The Marietta Journal,
which was very welcome and OF much
interest. as l have not seen more than
six newspapers from the states since
have been here. have never writ
ten a letter for publication, and was
very much embarrassed when found
that you had published one OF NINE.
/ was truly glad to be so far away
when | saw it. trust, however, that
nv friends may have been able to
pick out some bits of information
concerning this very interesting coun-
try.
1t must have been wonderful IN
deed in the pre-war days. l have
been told that the condition and OPP
portunities of the people of France
are superior to any other country IN
Europe.
Whether this is true or not, they
are far behind the people of the
good old U. S. A., and yet there are
many things we have learned, and
many we might learn from these
French people.
| can imagine that there hasn't
been much change in rural France
within a hundred years. OF course
there are railroads and electric lights
through the country. The cities are
becoming modern, according to our
standards. Paris has long since pass
ed us by, and we have nothing to
compare with it in beauty.
The present system of education
was completed by the great Napoleon,
and it must be good, as l have heard
that there is less illiteracy in France
than in any country of the world.
The teachers are state servants,
and can not be dismissed without
good reasons, and are entitled to pen
sions.
Primary instruction, which is strict
ly non-religious, is given IN every
town and village. Attendance is COM
puIsory from the ages of to IA
years, and is gratuitous. The grades
begin with the 10th and finish with
the first. Sundays and Thursdays are
full holidays. In the cities are high
schools and colleges. The farming
methods are very different to ours.
The peasant (farmer) is now allowed
to own land and he is wonderfully
thrifty, boarding his pence in order
to buy bit, or add bit to the field
he owns. Less than one hundred
years ago they were practically slaves.
Thev have always been heavily bur
dened with taxes, and at one time
thew were required to pay something
like IS per cent of their entire in
come. (And yet, we in the states
grumble about high taxes.)
They can have no hopes of riches.
He owes everything to himself, and
to his hard work Nobody ever took
notice of him but to ask or expect
something. He has been looted again
and again. Whenever kings and the
mobiles had a family discussion they
used his fields as battle ground, and
his sons as soldiers, and then to pay
the bill, he was burdened with more
taxes.
During the war the old men and
the women and children have kept
the land under cultivation as best
they could, while the young men, and
a great many who are not young, have
gone to fight When we remember
that France, which is very small when
compared with the United States, has
lost 100000 men in this war, and
the country filled up with cripples,
we can not but wonder at the great
sacrifice.
Nearly half of the population live
by farming, and the average farm is
of less than 5 acres. Land for farm
ing is worth from $500 to $1,000
per acre. The chief products are
grains, wines, Irish potatoes and gar
den produce. The average wheat
crop amount to about $50 million
bushels. A great many oats are
grown, and much hay is cut.
Some grain drills and modern har-
/ vgs.ers are used, but as a rule the
tools are very awkward makeshifts.
A few grain separators are used,
such as are seen back in the states,
but I have seen wheat beat out by
hand. In some villages there will
he a thresher in connection with a
mill, but in every village there will
he several of the old ground hog
variety. l have passed by two places
in this town today where they were
threshing wheat. They are run by
either waterpower, electric, horse,
oxen. or, sometimes, "cow power.