The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-05-29
.LAUDS BRITISH
PRODUCTION OF
FOOD FOR A.E.F,
BY HENRY TOSTI RUSSELL
UNITED Press STAFF Correspondent

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UNITED Press STAFF Correspondent
Somewhere = In England, (UP)-
Even Nature is being harnessed to
the cause of Anglo American un-
derstanding, by the U. s. Army au-
thorities here.
The Agricultural Section Of the
ONCE Of the Chief Quartermaster
comprised of a team of experts Is
directing the production Of fresh
vegetables for Army consumption
in cooperation with the British I'M
der the direction Of Maj. Gen. Rob-
ert M. Littlejohn, Chief Quarter
master.
One of the members of the team
is Sergt. John w. Freeman of York
County, Virginia, for nine years
agricultural agent for Sussex coun-
ty, Virginia.
Switched from Dairying
I'VE work in close cooperation
with the British" he told the
United Press. In doing so I have
learned a good deal about their
ways. Let me say for start that
they have done one helluva good
job on food production. Yes, Sir, I
take off my hat to them for that.
Their work has been all the
more remarkable because in many
cases they have had to demonstrate
and actually teach some of their
| farmers how to plough with our
tractors. The farmers here as far
as have been able to ascertain,
were mainly in the dairy or poultry
end of the game. Most of their
land was in grass. So they have
had to learn a whole lot of tech
nical things in order to switch over
to wholesale production Of food,
as they have done. Believe me they
sure have done a swell job"
Asked If he found farming very
different in Britain as compared
with the States. Freeman said that
he thought the main differences
were due to climatic conditions, the
nature of the soil, and the system
of ownership or tenantship of the
land.
They seem to have about the
same rainfall here as in the U. ST."
he said. "At any rate the total
annual rainfall in Britain is COM
parable to that of our eastern
states. But the difference here is
that the fall is gradual. They don't
get the terrific falls that we get
IN many parts Of the States.
Cultivate Hills
Then there is the texture of the
soil itself. Here their soil seems
to absorb a good deal more mois-
ture than our soil at home. AS
result of this, they are able to
practice p-and-down-h cultiva-
ton successfully. Why, If we did
that in the States, almost every row
would become a gully in no time.
For this reason, maybe, they don't
have to pay SO much attention here
to the soil conservation as Ameri-
cans do"
The fact that in Britain, farmers
were often tenants of a number
of different landowners, he ex-
planned, made it more difficult for
a tenant-farmer to farm his vari-
ously owned lands economically
with modern appliances. You see
you need large fields close together
to operate modern agricultural
machinery economically. And be-
cause their fields here are often
separated by hedges indicating the
different ownership of the land, it
is often impractical or uneconomic
for them to use mechanical equip
ment"
These bviously, he exclaimed,
were some of the conditions under
which the Army was compelled to
work in its efforts to reduce the
amount of shipping space required
to feed the United States Armed
Forces in this theater of operations.
But although conditions are diff
ferent here from in he States"
said Freeman, I'VE got on fine to-
gether. I think an old Negro had
the cooperation situation well sum-
married in this sentence In order
to do right you got to have do
right mind Well the fact is, we all
have got that 'do-right mind here.
And it is working out fine. If we
use the same mind to cooperate
after the war, maybe we farmers
will be much better off than ever
before"