BAD YEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 196, 20 August 1938, Page 14

BAD YEAR.

rZUBXCH AGBICVLTUBE. PAEIS. To add to France's financial and industrial distress comes a new element, an extremely bad agricultural year. A drought has already heavily damaged grain, notably wheat and oats, has withered many sown fields and partly ruined much pasture land, making it inadequate to support its usual quota of cattle. In many districts the soil is so hard that it is practically uncultivable.

On top of the drought there have been feveral severe frosts, what the French call "black frosts," followed by bitter winds. These -frosts within a few days destroyed the early vegetables in truck gardens, and fruits. In the rich orchard country of the Loire Valley, "for instance, many a horticulturist has already lost practically his entire year's income. His orchards are all blackened by frost.

France's vineyards particularly have been hit by drought and frost. In many Districts not only will there be no grapes, but even the vines have suffered and will require two or three years to recover their full vitality.

The hard hit condition of French agriculture is disastrous since the prosperity of the farmer is essential to the general economic recovery of the country. Nearly half of the French population is rural, and furthermore a large part of business and industry concern themselves with farm products.