OUR FRENCH SISTERS ON THE LAND

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2778, 24 May 1916, Page 3

OUR FRENCH SISTERS ON THE LAND

ENGLISHWOMEN AMAZED BY THEIR SUCCESS. The party of Unglialiwomeii lvlio loft London ou February 22 to see fur themselves the work that .Frenchwomen are doing in ugriculturo during tho absence of tneir menfolk have now issued a ro» port of their journey, states the "Daily News." Tlie mission, wliicE was due to the initiative of tho Berkshire Committeo on Women and farm Labour, consisted of seven women, under the guidruico or' Professor Salmon, of Heading. They visited the departments of Seine-et-Oise, Aisno, Hume, Jirbe, and Haute Mnrno <lireetly behind the French Ariny lines, and the sight of the vlilage women carrying on tho necessary agricultural work undeterred by tlie terrific strugglo that was raging within earshot waa an ■o.vperienoo which none of the mission will forget. It is recognised by, tho mission Hint the actual experiences of an invading nimy make it easier for French countrywomen to realise nioro deeply than do English villagers the necessity of personal sacrifice and the renunciation of every individual Einterest, and that the difference in the land, systems of tho two oountries cannot bo left out of tlie question, but they appear to liavo returned convinced that much might be done to arouse a similar spirit in this country. They noticed that not only tho wives and daughters of soldiers, but their mothers, were found taking a share in the roughest labour. They found a woman, with husband and brother mc/bilised, who after two days' lessons from tho hrnther, had ploughed and sown somo 50 to 70 acres without assistance. A war widow, with tho liolp of another wornau and on old and half-blind Belgian re. fugee, was farming 60 acres. They noted that fuller use was made of garden and wild "fpgetablo produce for human and animal food, and tho French household depended largely on its own produce > flint' rabbits and fowls for the consump, tion of tho Tamils; were kept in large quantities, and, they were also impressed .by the extreme frugality and the absence of luxury among the agricultural pomi. lotion.