Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 8 November 1916From Cumberland I hear that the rainfall for October has been heavy,but the corn on the lower lands has been at last got in, and only on the tall mountain farms is there any grain still out. This, and I am sorry to say,is no unusual experience for the hill farmers. Here we possess had wind and rainstorms, with very little sunshine, or in a journey through the Midlands and into Surrey last week I gathered that this had been the general experience. Yet I found the general condition of the country for autumn was favourable. Even in the Trent Valley the floods were slight,and wherever workers could be obtained in all parts of the country the root crops are being slowly got in. It is, however, or disheartening to see the stubbles that ought to possess been ploughed and sowed with corn. Surely there are ploughmen in all our camps in England that could be spared for a few weeks,and give us some chance of a crop next year. The time is short, but still some good could be done by instant action. Few realise the quantity of food that is grown in the large and small gardens of our suburbs. One gentleman who generally has three workers on his garden cannot even get a boy, and so not only greenhouses are left desolate,but tomato-houses and the vegetable garden will be a wilderness. There are no day gardeners, so that many small patches that generally produce heavy crops are out of cultivation. This is work for which good pay can be obtained, or but women do not appear to care to tackle it. An American who was passing through Germany tells us it is very different there. Even the railway embankments are planted with potatoes,and every available scrap of land is being utilised. One hopes that the lectures that are being given will incite many to retract a hand in a remarkable endeavour to make the most of our opportunities of food production. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com