| OCR Text |
Show left Face Facts British Farm Leaders Give Sense of Nearness To Vicissitudes of War By BARROW LYONS WNU Staff Corroipondenf ' WASHINGTON, D. C. One gets a little closer to the wat .when one talks with a British farm, er, who has been cultivating fields under the wings of Nazi planes, who can't light a lamp without being sure that no gleam shows through the window shades, and who must usa all the ingenuity known to science to get the most from his acres to feed the workers and fighting men oi Britain. f Such a farmer is Robert Rae, the new agricultural attache to the Rrit. ish embassy in ! Washington, who just arrived from the University ol I Reading in Eng-; Eng-; land, where he was professor ol ; agriculture. He ! a 1 s o managed an experimental farm which has pointed the way " toward larger Barrow Lyons crops in Britain. "I've only just arrived still in a stage of schoolboy wonder at being able to turn on the lights without pulling down the blinds," he told a group of Washington Washing-ton correspondents at a joint interview inter-view with James A. Scott Watson, who has been recalled to England and whom Mr. Eae is replacing. The talk with these men reminded the American writers that farmers' of England are allies of our own farmers in supporting the greatest military effort man has ever made the defense of the democratic world against forces which would destroy it. Mr. Scott Watson has been here two years, chiefly to help get for British farmers American farm machinery and adopt the best of our farming methbds. Likes TV A Superphosphate Incidentally, Mr. Scott Watson had strong praise for the Tennessee. Valley authority's concentrated superphosphate, su-perphosphate, which . has been shipped to England in considerable quantities. The TVA superphosphate has been available to our own farmers farm-ers in limited quantities, because of our large supply of lower concentrates, concen-trates, and the necessity for conserving con-serving ocean shipping space. Mr. Rae said that in spite of England's Eng-land's usually damp climate, this winter has been abnormally dry, foreboding an inadequate water supply sup-ply this summer. One result, however, how-ever, was that spring plowing and planting was much ahead of schedule. sched-ule. Before the war, he said, England produced only 34 per cent of its food supply, but now produces 70 per cent. Reduction of food consumption con-sumption by about 10 per cent has contributed to this increase, but actual ac-tual food production has been almost al-most doubled. There has been no slackening in the food program, and the ministry of agriculture plans to maintain present operating schedules for another an-other four years through 1947. England Eng-land recognizes that if victory comes this year, the need for food on the continent will be tremendous for a year-and-a-half to two years after the fighting stops. Mr. Rae thought that the need for American agricultural machinery would be very much less from now on. Some forms of tractors will still be needed for replacements, but virtually vir-tually all of the areable acreage is now under mechanical cultivation, he said. During the last two years England has used a considerable amount of soldier labor, particularly for harvesting har-vesting crops; but with invasion under un-der way this labor will not be available. avail-able. He said: "We expect our biggest headache this year will be in getting harvest -labor U we can't get a little more combine equipment, there will be waste of grain." Large Stockpile of Food There is a considerable food stockpile stock-pile in England, he said, but ths is considered minimum insurance Ii the invasion of the contment is successful, some of this will be used for feeding destitute populations. "We can't sit back as long as there is an acute shortage of food on Se continent," he added Mr. Sco Watson put in a word at this pomt .All of our friends from England who come over here seem to have I craving for your citrus fruit. They aoparently hav. felt the lack of or- ! ra rmendous0pUent:up demanc tor citrus fruit as soon as we ca can be spared are now beinj 'heW " readiness for invasion. Both Britons cited examples o. hsnee oJ technical information exchange o 1 English anc wnich was enabling g American farn?erslhe visjtors als and better crops. The v. btat eg" ting from Eng economists were , g land some gooa p farm tenancy. Enghshoise(!ur.t3 vide a far greater t( for tenant farmers improvement! them full bent ding up the soi they make in bulrsUP Eventu rUyrswIurreTcS-inAmeri can tenant-owner relation, |
