The Devils Lake world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1920-1982, 1920-09-08
SCARS Of WAR
IMPROVE SOIL
Effect Of Deep Flowing Produced
Upon She'll Torn France,
Says American.
VEGETATION IS lUxUR|ANT
Vigorous Crops Are Growing as a Re.
suit Of French Patience and In.
dus&ry-Stiek to Antiquated
Tools and Methods.

duetry@Stick to AndQuateo
Tools and Methods.
New York.-The thought Of deep
scars left upon the land in France
and Belgium by the trenches Of the
allies and their foes has been m OF
the gioomiest of postwar reflections,
To those who have feared that per
manent harm to the agriculture Of the
war-torn areas would result, the
special report made to the American
Committee for Devastated France
recently by Hal B. Fullerton, agricul-
tural director of the Long Island rail.
road, will come as a relief. For in 1t
Mr.. Fullerton declares that the
trenches and shellholes have accom-
plished the one thing dearest to the
farmers heart-deep blowing.
IF a farmer here in America" said
Mr.. Fullerton to reporters recently,
manages to pillow to a depth of four
inches he thinks he has done exceed
ingly well. For the most part, he gets
down two inches. The best vel done
in this country is nine. Now what
has happened in France? Trenches
eight to ten feet deep, shellholes and
mined areas from fifty to a hundred
feet in depth and often 200 feet square
have brought to the surface, without
disturbing it, the deep soil, containing
valuable minerals of which the top
soil, used for generations, has been
depleted. Added to these minerals is
the organic matter furnished by the
fertilization of dead beasts. Thus the
upheaval wrought by the trenches &C.
tua1ly represents the type Of cultfva-
ton advanced by practical .agricul-
tura1 experts in America and England.
II remember n former battlefield
where the trenches had been filled in
and wheat planted. The lines Of
tcenches-French on one slope and
German on the other-could be clearly
distinguished because the wheat grow
ing over them was higher than the
rest and had a rich green color that
showed 1t to be the best in the field.
1t was a plain example Of deep plow-
Ing"
luxuriant Vegetation In Shell Holes.
Among Mr.. Fullerton's many photo
graphs was one showing a huge shell
hole, perhaps a hundred feet deep, all
over the bottom Of which luxuriant
vegetation, including clover, corn
flower and alfalfa, was growing. An
other snapshot showed untitled
trenches, with discarded ammunition
belts and rifles strewn around, the
whole place covered with grass, ferns
and s%hrubbery.
Another theory that Mr.. Fullerton
has exploded is that of the great harm
done to the soil by chlorine gas set
free in military operations. On the
contrary, he declared, if it has any
effect at all 1t is a beneficial one, for
the chlorine will attract to itself sodi-
UNI and potassium as chemical bases,
the result being some of the very salts
that are used in the making Of fer
tilizer.
MI. Fullerton wa7 full of enthusiasm
over the French genius for farming.
While amused by some of the anti
quated tools and methods the peasants
employed, such as hoes with eighteen
inch handles, forcing the user to bend
his back at right angles as he works,
and obsolete scythe s~harpeners, he
failed to find that conservatism and
distrust Of new things with which the
Frenchman is so generally credited.
He told Of introducing to some of them
the wheeled hoe, or automatic seeder,
a device that may be used for all sort,
sf work, from narrowing to weed
eutting.
Il took it out to a field" he said,
where some of the French were work
ing, and started in with it. None of
them came up to look-they are too
oanny for that-but I could see them
watching every motion out Of the
corner Of their eyes. A few days later
n old man decided to try it, and
500 he was getting so much more
done in a day than the rest that he
was the talk Of the town."
"The problem Of restoring French
SOIL" according to Mr.. Fullerton's Of
fetal report, the result of three
months in the Aisne department at
the request of the American commit
tee for devastated France, sis one Of
engineering. With the needed tractors
and implements it can easily be
brought back to its original fertility.
Among zone Of the farmers did I find
the slightest pessimism about their
and. / noticed also that both men
and women had unusual mechanical
ability. They are hard workers, as
well. It 10 4 common sight to see
men who have worked in factories
hboring In their kitchen gardens until
9, OF 40 o'cl6ck at night, making the
most Of the long twilights.
Ss His Only Salvation.
The French countryman Is a strong
individualist. It IS with great diff
Guilty that he is persuaded to cooper.
ate In a. community enterprise: The
present condttions, however, make this
Hi only salvation. With the lack OF
Snam.nGu,orf md mo ~ r,u4 ~ 40 nGuon.