LADY DERBY'S FARM WOMEN.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 89, 16 May 1916, Page 1

LADY DERBY'S FARM WOMEN.

The Countess of Derby told a crowded meeting of farmers at Ormskirk that she was delighted with the work that women were doing at the home farm at Knowsley. Never had she seen women with such happy faces. They were learning the plough, and gave promise of being able to do excellent work. One woman trained at Knowsley was rising at five every morning and milking eight cows. She was the equal of any man. At one of Lord Derby's country seats in the South they' had Lancashire women gardeners doing good work. Lady Derby strongly appealed to farmers to emplovi women on the farms. "Women of different classes, from shepherds' wives to squires' wives, took part in a demonstration of war work for women on- the farm, organised by the Lindsay County Council, at South Elkington. Lines. Thirty-five women engaged in ])loughnig. threshing, and spreading manure and cutting turnips, and though the fend was in a fearful state owing to wet weather, they stuck to their work and did- it in such a way as to excite the admiration of the farmers. The latter were especially nleaeed with the way they handled the. horses, although they were fresh, and it was agreed that the ploughing and threshing were extremely weU done. The women ploughed for four houig, and finished without any ©vjden.ee of undue fatigue,