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Show British City People, Moved to Country to Escape Robot Bombs, Assist in Harvest of Bumper Crops foke Is on Hitler As He Unwittingly Aids Food Program Whatever insane plans were oehind the Nazi robot bombing, bomb-ing, certainly helping the English Eng-lish farmer was not one of them. Yet that is what has happened. As the harvest season of 1944 approached, it seemed certain that there would be an acute shortage of farm laborers. la-borers. In other years the army had been able to assist with the harvest, but the army is now busy in France and ejsewhere. There are few young men left in England. TVio Wnmpn'c T.nnH nrmv has 1 w-Vii J- -if-' their share in shaping the plans of the government, for the ministry of agriculture consults regularly witk the National Farmers' union, the workers' unions, and the Central Landowners' association. Before the outbreak of war in 1M9 the minister of agriculture had called for an increase in the amount of land under the plow. In the spring of 1039 a subsidy of two pounds sterling ($8) an acre was granted for the plowing-up of seven-year seven-year grassland and bringing it into cleanliness and fertility, and immediately imme-diately after war broke out. each farmer was asked to plow up roughly rough-ly 10 per cent of his unplowed land. Further financial grants are now made in order to encourage the production pro-duction of certain crops and to discourage dis-courage the production of others. Payments of four pounds ($16) per acre are made on crops of rye and wheat harvested, and ten pounds ($40) per acre on potatoes. Making a "V for Victory" symbol with his pitchfork, George Casely, an English farmer, defies Hitler and his bombs. "He needn't think he can starve us out," said George, who operates op-erates a 50-acre dairy farm in Devon. England is the most highly mechanized mech-anized farming country in Europe. The big tractor works that had contemplated con-templated closing down early in 193S were given a contract by the government govern-ment to produce all the tractors they could. Farm machinery was also shipped from Canada, Australia Austra-lia and the United States. In order to make the best use of available machinery, plowing contractors con-tractors were helped to extend their operations, and farmers were asked to help each other. In some counties coun-ties implement depots, where a farmer could hire an imolement for The Farm survey. However, much of the land has had to be reclaimed to offset losses of land to military and industrial use. Therefore, it was extremely important that the best possible use be made of each farm acre, and in 1941 the Farm Survey was initiated. This survey consisted of: 1) a "farm record" for each farm, containing con-taining information under the following fol-lowing heads: conditions of tenure and occupation; natural state of the farm, including its fertility; the adequacy ade-quacy of its equipment; the degree of infestation with weeds or pests; the adequacy of water and electricity electrici-ty supplies; the management condition con-dition of the farm, and its wartime plowing-up record. The information on the management condition of the farm is summarized in the grading of the farm as: (A) well farmed, (B) moderately farmed, and (C) helped all through the war years, but this year it was already al-ready fully employed. The situation looked pretty bad with the richest harvest since the war and not enough help to bring it in. Then along came the robot bomb, or "doodlebug," striking at London and the surrounding counties. coun-ties. The doodlebug does not have the penetrating qualities of earlier blitz bombs, but it has a blast effect that covers a lot more territory. During attacks houses are damaged at the rate of 700 an hour. So the evacuation of London was begun all over again. One million women, children and older men have already left the city, and the second million has started. Where are they going? Straight to the farms where they are helping to reap the wheat, gather the corn, flax and other crops. Evacuation is an old story to most of these people. They are the ones who left during the blitz attacks of 1940 and '41 and who returned to their homes In 1942 and '43. This time many of them do not have homes to which to return. Even with the crews of plasterers, plumbers, plumb-ers, tilers, etc., who follow along after an attack to make "first aid" repairs, the great majority of homes are beyond repair. It is not surprising surpris-ing then that many former townspeople towns-people plan to stay on farms after the war. Intend to Stay on Farm. In fact, ever since the war began, quite a number of people have been going on farms with the intention of staying. They spend a period of apprenticeship with a farmer first, and usually make good farmers. Even before the war the motor bus had fairly revolutionized farm life and took away some of its terrors for townspeople. There have never been many automobiles in England because of their high cost, and practically prac-tically none in farming communities. communi-ties. Bicycles have always been the chief means t of transportation. The British equivalent to the American county fair is the "walkover," "walk-over," an annual fall event. Because Be-cause of the shorter distances in England, the farmers go in groups a few shillings a day, were set up. There has been a remarkable increase in-crease in the actual number of machinery ma-chinery of different types employed. The number of tractors has about tripled, cultivating instruments have increased about two and a half times the prewar level. Harvesting machinery, ma-chinery, however, has not shown a comparable increase, but the introduction intro-duction of improved types, such as the combined harvester-thresher, together to-gether with its greater use over longer hours per day and for longer periods, have helped. Farm wages have almost doubled since the war and it is hoped to keep a considerable part of the increase in-crease after the war. This is important im-portant because tenant farming in England is widespread most of the farmers do not own the land they work. They are furnished homes with garden plots as part of their wages, and usually live on one farm all their lives. The wages are reached by agreement between the National Farmers' Union and the Agricultural Farm Laborers' Union. Britain Feeding Self Now. Before the war Britain was only 40 per cent self-sufficient in food, and imported 8 million tons of animal ani-mal feed annually. Perhaps this was the basis for Hitler's decision badly farmed. (2) The complete 1941 June 4 census cen-sus return of the farm including all the usual statistics of crop acreages and live stock numbers together with supplementary information, asked especially for Farm Survey pur- M poses, on length of occupation and 1 rent of the farm. (3) A plan of the farm showing its boundaries and the fields contained in it, on six-inch or 12'4-inch scale. The Agricultural Executive committees com-mittees have the right of entry on all farms and the power, which it has not been necessary to use often, to remove inefficient farmers. They can compel farmers to follow their directions, and have the power to take over badly farmed land with the consent of the minister of agriculture. agri-culture. They may then rent this land to suitable tenants, or farm and improve it themselves. The land taken tak-en over is acquired at value when possession is taken, and within five years after the war it must be offered of-fered back to the original owner at a price determined by agreement or arbitration if the minister of agriculture agri-culture believes the land will be properly managed and cultivated. Today a trip through the English countryside is a refreshing experience. experi-ence. Wheat acreage has increased from a million acres in 1939 to 3,200,- Xrom one farm to another comparing crops and produce. They gather for tea in the afternoon and discuss the methods of cultivation and argue over breeds of cattle, etc. There is quite a bit of interest in different types of fertilizer and many have been tried. The farms are as a rule much smaller than those in the U. S. in fact, all distances in England are shorter than in this country since the whole of Britain is about as large as Illinois and Indiana put together. f; ' x - V M 1 1 racton, many of them from the United States, rip up the English grasslands as the British determinedly set to work to raise as much of heir own food as possible. At the outbreak of the war in 1939, the British isles produced less than 40 per cent of their food. By 1941 thev w.re raising 70 per cent. y wire The English people are in good spirits, notwithstanding the dreadful dread-ful bombings, and are looking forward for-ward to enjoying the fruits of peace. Oddly enough, the farm animals around London were more upset than the people. The doodlebugs often fall or are shot down over open country in the counties of Kent, Sussex, Essex and Middlesex, all on the channel coast. The cows particularly par-ticularly were upset by the crazy contraption and didn't produce as well as they had. However, it didn't ! take long for them to become ad-j ad-j justed, as animals especially cows I usually do, and they are now up to their previous records. The way city people have adapted themselves to farm life is remarkable. remark-able. Town girls who had never been near a farm before are now doing dairy work with a zest. They are happy and look wonderful. They are housed in brick buildings of semi-permanent nature where they eat in communal dining rooms that are nicely furnished. More Machinery in Use. ' There has been a decided in- crease in the use of farm machinery ! since the outbreak of war. Today i not to invade England; it looked easier to bomb and starve the country coun-try into submission. But while the bombs were dropping drop-ping in London and the seacoast towns, the British farmers were busy plowing up the grasslands. In 1939 there were 19 million acres of these grasslands, and seven million acres have now been brought under cultivation. culti-vation. This is against two million acres of grassland plowed up in World War I. Today Britain is raising rais-ing more than 70 per cent of its food. The general policy governing agricultural agri-cultural production is laid down by the cabinet, and the minister of agriculture ag-riculture is responsible for carrying carry-ing out the government's plans. The execution of these plans is in the hands of war agricultural executive committees, who in turn appoint district dis-trict committees of local farmers. Farmers' organizations, land owners and agricultural workers all have 000 in 1944. Potato acreage was 700 -000 in 1939 and is now 1,400 000 acres. Milk production has increased in consumption total from 363 mil linn gallons in the year ending March, 1939, to 1 billion 40 million gallons in the year ending March, After two lessons in one genera-tion, genera-tion, the British farmer is determined deter-mined that the land must not go out of cultivation again. Whether his de-sire de-sire will be realized or whether Brit ain will return to the policy of im. porting food as a balance to manu-factured manu-factured goods exported, is one of the problems of peace. pPrhaps the two can be correlated with the m creased use of farm products f manufacturing purposes In any event, the farmers of En-and En-and have joined hands with ail the ' armors of the Allied nations to show ; that this most peaceful of occupa- tions can become a mighty in i) j ment of war. y pie" I |
