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Show frarvck Orchards Devastated 4y Germans f iTTK-VnoN Inis been direct-It direct-It od recently tn tin: havoc t which has been wrought by tin: Germans among tin: or-r or-r ehards, fruit fiirms and JE'SJL nursery gardens nf the If-vastatcd If-vastatcd port ions of northern north-ern Franco, Belgium, i'oland. Serbia and Itoumania. The manner in which flip Teutonic forces deliberately and systematically carried out their policy of destnjcliou lias been disclosed in those portions of Franco winch have been released from Gorman occupation occupa-tion during the past year. Not a tree was left standing or alive In the beautiful beau-tiful orchards winch were the pride nnd nt the same time Ibe means of livelihood of the people of this de vastated country. The disclosure of these conditions condi-tions has resulted result-ed in the formation forma-tion of plans in London for the raising of funds (o he used In the restoration of these orchards and nurseries. It is estimated that about $5,000,000 will be needed to complete this work of reconstruction. recon-struction. Some t housands of trees have already been dispatched to France for planting in the district which lei lC -j "WVV",' SHfV"" M El Dhl5TATOSf OjY r OOJVT been wrested from German control. The destruction of the orchards is described by a writer in Country Life who went to France to learn what plans were being made to restore to prosperity the regions that have been laid waste in war. "Xo description in the newspapers lirought home to me so vividly as a personal visit did the heavy hand which has been laid upon these regions," re-gions," says this writer. The one phrase which kept rising in the mind and ever coming to the lips was the Scriptural one, "There shall not be left one stone standing upon another." riefore the war the region was one of the most fertile in France. Agricultural Agricul-tural authorities assured me that the best crops of wheat in the country were raised on the wide flat plains. The land at present is growing only thistles and other weeds. The ruin here differs entirely from that seen in such war-battered towns as Reims and Verdun. These have been smashed nnd knocked about by shells and bombs till they are but ruins of what they once were. Still, there are houses standing untouched amid the general destruction, and they still are at least the shells of towns. But, to take for example the district around Noyon. not only have the streets been wrecked by fire and shell, but before leaving them the Germans went methodically through a course of destruction, blow ing up roofs, gathering up implements Into a heap for burning, and employing employ-ing a kind of battering ram for breaking break-ing down the walls. So that to recur again to the phrase that keeps welling well-ing up like the burden of a song, there Is really not one stone left to stand upon another. "Mori' may be said about that hereafter. here-after. The main point today Is to direct di-rect attention to what has actually been done by the Germans in the way of ruining gardens, orchards and nurseries. Those who have been in the country In peacetime will remember remem-ber the rows of apple and pear trees that were grown along the straight roads running between unhedged fields. They will remember, too, the groups of plantations of trees in the fields, as well as the orchards and gardens near the pretty rustic houses characteristic of that French district. In preparation for evacuation, the German Ger-man soldiers appear to have been ordered or-dered out with ax anil saw to level these trees with the ground. Whether Wheth-er it is that nobody has found time to remove them or that the ruined trees are preserved as a monument to German brutality, there they are lying ly-ing as they fell. Some, and these the most slender, have boon clean sawn through; others cut with the ax; a few have been attacked with both ax and saw. But there they .lie dead. Whatever there was of nursery or garden gar-den has been swept away. Kven the hutches where the rabbits were kept have not escaped destruction. If one recognizes that these represent repre-sent the chief elements in la petite culture, in which a considerable proportion pro-portion of the Inhabitants were en-gag, en-gag, d, it will not come as a surprise that the French oilicer commanding S J rJ!, - , -'' - H (.rvf a in the district told me nothing had so angered and embittered his Poilus. They accepted the rest as a natural outcome of the war, and what an extraordinary ex-traordinary "rest" it was. One has to go far back to find anything to compare com-pare with it. After Bannockburn the Scots used to raid the adjacent parts of England, so that for years it was impossible to raise crops, and the houses were so systematically destroyed de-stroyed that the buildings of wood and stone were ultimately replaced by turf and wattle. The desolation there in the fourteenth century must have been comparable to the desolation produced in the twentieth century by a nation which counts itself cultured beyond most. And what was worse than damage dam-age to property was the carrying away into captivity of the whole population, excepting such as were too old to work. Into what various regions they have beeC scattered no one knows. Very few have found their way back. It was, however, the preparation for subsequent misery that inflamed the soldiery. I could see their eyes harden hard-en and shine like steel at the bare mention, and one effect has been that the French army will not be content with any end of this war which is not consummated on the further bank of the Khine. "Lieutenant Traffaut, with a touch of satire, remarked that the Germans 'tOAD TO LAJJCfy who had gone out to wreak mischief on the peacefui Inhabitants bad unwittingly done I them a good turn. I Many have I preached for 1 years that the I time had come to I destroy and re-l re-l plant the or-M or-M chards. They were I much too old for I grafting. The va-1 va-1 rieties grown s I were not good I and, besides, it is jK inimical to mod-9 mod-9 ern s y s t e m s of j cultivation to ivo croons of trees in the middle of a field. They only put difficulties in the way of plowing, difficulties that will be greatly accentuated when the tractor plow comes into more general use. He agreed with other experts with whom I had an opportunity of conversation con-versation that the better plan was to set about the planting of new trees, which should be chosen with special regard to their suitability to the soil and the district, and to their usefulness. useful-ness. For many years it has been pointed out in vain to the French peasant, peas-ant, just as it has been to English farmers and gardeners, that the old mossy trees, picturesque though they may be, which are usually found in both countries, could advantageously be replaced by young saplings of the best varieties. "But the French peasant is every bit as conservative as the British farmer. As long as his trees carried annually a certain amount of ill grown apples that he could make into a very indifferent indiffer-ent cider, nothing would persuade him to remove them. He was equally deaf to the argument that cultivation -would be easier if the trees were removed from the middle of the field and planted plant-ed along the sides. Out of evil comes good. A plan has been formed for reconstructing re-constructing these orchards on an entirely en-tirely new basis, with the co-operation of the British public. |