In the Flash Ranging Service / Observations of an American Soldier During His Service With the A.E.F. in France

by Edward Alva Trueblood

Soon after we left the ocean we came to a fertile farming section, in which crops of various kinds, such as grains, fruits, garden truck, etc., were grown. We had known that the farms in European countries are small, especially those of France, as compared with farms in America, but it was necessary for us to see the actual size of these small farms to realize how diminutive they are. As in the vicinity of Brest, mentioned in a previous chapter, the cultivated areas ranged in size from a half acre to two and a half acres. Rarely we would see a place as large as five acres, but that was the exception. No fences separated these farms, but the boundaries were marked by hedges and occasionally a low stone wall. In these small fields cultivation is not practiced as in this country, but the land is tilled in narrow strips. The numerous different textures of the soil, accounted for the large number of strips. Each strip was planted to a crop to which it was best suited.

The highways through this farming section are kept in excellent condition. They are built of rock and give the impression from the train window that a motor trip through France would be a delight. Rows of trees are planted along all the highways, the poplar tree predominating, but other trees being used frequently as well. The by-roads are of dirt but appear to be kept in good condition. They also have trees planted along them; this seems to be a characteristic of France, and readers will recall that in all war pictures where these roads have been shown, the rows of trees are always there. This is an excellent feature and one that California with its rapidly increasing mileage of concrete roads, might well follow.

Very few automobiles were seen on these highways, except those engaged in war transportation. Of course at the time that I made my observations, the country was engaged in war, and in peace times no doubt more automobiles belonging to civilians are in use. It is a fact, however, there are comparatively few automobiles among the civil population of France. Only the very rich own them. The masses of the people do not possess them, as in America. The civil population either walk along these highways or travel in horse-drawn carts and wagons. The carts are different from any that we see in America. Frequently they are heavily constructed with wheels of from six to eight feet in diameter. They are fitted with brakes, which are used on the grades. They have a long body, that is, long for a cart, and this is laden with the varied products of the small farms which are in this way taken to market. Most frequently these carts are drawn by one horse, though it is not unusual to see two or three horses hitched to one when the load is heavy. When more than one horse is used, the animals are not hitched abreast, but tandem. The wheel horse is hitched between two long heavy shafts and his duty seems to be largely that of steering the unwieldy conveyance, while the front horse or horses do most of the pulling. The harness is heavy and the rear horse is protected from sores that might be caused by rubbing, by a heavy and well padded saddle and a heavy girth. It was a common sight to see a woman driving one of these carts and guiding the wheel horse and handling the brakes, while boys were either driving or leading the leaders. These strange and cumbersome rigs, so different from any that we had ever seen before, interested and amused us.

The crops in the section through which we passed on our first day out of Brest appeared to be good. They gave me, a Californian with considerable farming experience, the impression that agriculture has been very carefully studied by the French. Occasionally we would see small tracts lying fallow, apparently to give the land a needed rest, while other tracts were being cultivated. On some of the small farms it was haying season. We were surprised as we noted the methods of the French farmer in this particular branch of husbandry. The hay was cut mostly by women and children with scythes. An American mower probably had never been seen there. It seemed like a tremendous waste of human energy to see these women and children doing such hard manual labor in the field, when a modern mower would cut the entire field in a very short time. It seems to me there should be a field for the sale of American mowers and other modern American farm machinery in the rural districts of France. While the farms are so small that the individual farmer could not, perhaps, afford to buy a mower, still, several farmers could go in together and buy one, or the community as a whole could buy one, for the common use of all who needed it. Here is something that the French and American Governments might get together on, for surely the French want to conserve the energy of their women and children who now do this hard work, and the Americans want a wider market for their modern farm equipment. It must be said, however, that the women of the French peasantry who were doing this hard work, appeared strong and healthful, and were enured to this difficult labor, no doubt, through many generations of this hard farm life.

We noticed as we got away from the coast, that there was a change in the style of dress of the peasants. We no longer saw the round hats with the ribbon streamers hanging down behind, so familiar in the rural districts around Brest. The dress of the peasants, farther in the interior, was more like that of the laboring classes of America. The men and women both wore serviceable clothes of dark material, but few of them wore anything on their heads. Sabots were worn instead of leather shoes. The women wore a sort of an Arctic sock over the stockings; the men frequently wore no socks at all. Occasionally the sabots would be several sizes too large for the wearer, but were made to fit by stuffing straw in them. This must have been rather uncomfortable, but the French peasantry seemed not to mind it at all.

While the horse is the principal draft animal in France, oxen are also used by some farmers. Most Western boys have seen teams of oxen, as they are still in use in some of the mountain districts of California, or at least they were still in use up to a few years ago; but to the Eastern boys an ox team was a new and interesting sight, and there was much comment upon it.

The first large city at which we stopped after leaving Brest was Nantes. This is a popular and ancient city, famous for the edict of Nantes, and more famous still, perhaps, because of the revocation of that edict by Louis XIV, which led to disastrous religious wars. Nantes is also famous as the birthplace of Jules Verne, whose "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," became an actuality during the world war. It is a city of about 150,000 and is an important industrial center, having extensive shipyards, factories, wharves, etc. It is on the right bank of the Loire River, about thirty-five miles from its mouth and is one of the chief ports of entry of France.

Nantes has a very interesting history and it contains many ancient and famous edifices. It was not our privilege, however, to see any more of the city than the views afforded from the train, for we stopped here but a short time. It was there that we got our first taste of French coffee, which is very different from that made and served in America. It was furnished to us by the French Government. At first it was distasteful to us, but after drinking it a few times we became used to it and later on we really liked it.

We were now in the rich valley of the Loire, one of the most productive and one of the most famous in France. It is not nearly so large as the Sacramento Valley, in California, nor as fertile, yet its fame extends around the world. It is drained by the Loire River, which is the longest river in France, being more than 600 miles in length, and being navigable for ships as far as Nantes and for river boats for more than five hundred miles of its length.

In the valley of the Loire we began to see the beautiful vineyards of France. In this district the farms as a rule were a little larger than those we saw on our way from Brest to Nantes, and consequently the hedges were less numerous. It was an exceedingly picturesque scene that met our eyes as we rolled along in the slow train. One noticeable fact was that each little vineyard was of a different shade of green from that of its nearest neighbors, due perhaps, to a different variety of plant, or to a variation of soil. There seemed to be no two of just the same shade. It was also in the Valley of the Loire that we saw considerable fruit production. Orchards were more numerous here than on the coast. They were planted to most of the deciduous trees with which we of California are familiar, although prunes seemed to predominate.