Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1917. AGRICULTURE IN BRITAIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1739, 24 July 1917, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1917. AGRICULTURE IN BRITAIN.

A CONTRIBUTOR to The London Daily Chronicle of March 20th, wrote. —“Nearly (it)o motor tractors are at work tearing up (he ground for the spring sowing. There is obviously not time to he lost over operations of the sort, for the season is already far advanced, and so the work is continued seven days a week and 20 hours out ot the 24. This extensive la hour is rendered possible by the employment of three successive shifts. The ploughing goes oil at night under moonlight or with the aid of head lights. This is eloquent of the changes a state of war lias wrought in our peaceful agricultural habits. 'The call for volunteers to man the ploughs under (lie new conditions has met with the most satisfactory response. The force necessary to work the tractors has all been recruited by these means, and a most varied class of operators has been obtained. Men owning motor cars have placed their services at the disposal of the Food Production Department, and there is even a title or two among them. On the other hand, the chaulleur and mechanic form a large proportion of the staffs. It is found that in a short while men having any mechanical knowledge are able successfully to manipulate the machinery. Naturally, the time has been > o limited that (he Department has taken the assistance immediately available rather than lose valuable hours in looking for the idea! mechanical ploughman. Nevertheless, side by side with this practical work is growing up a mass of theoretical and propara lory work, all of which wiii be utilised so far as circumstances will allow. For training women for work on the land, there are a thousand teaching centres where pupils, varying in number from two or .three to twenty, are being taught the essentials of land cultivation. The greatest use in this connection is being made of'the twenty agricultural colleges in England, both in respect of the teaching staff and the experimental farms attached to the institutions. Also,the farmer himself has, in many cases, turned instructor, and takes women pupils on terms arranged by the local women’s organisation. Thus, a large force of women as well as men is being moulded into shape for farm operations. Only those*£amiliar with the details can form any idea of the dearth of male labour, at all skilled in farm work,

iii many districts. Even the essential man,'..such as the village blacksmith, may be called up, and agricultural routine is momentarily dislocated, for there is none to mend the ploughs and agricultural implements. In these exceptional times the spirit of criticism must be tempered by a consideration of ways and means. The land is being ploughed —thanks to the' tractors lent by private owners, to the number of 400, and the rest, purchased in America and elsewhere, and thousands of acres are being turned up which otherwise would have lain fallow owing to the dearth of labour and horses and mechanical appliances.. ,