FARMING AND FOXHUNTING 



country in which we were motoring, but apparently 

 it is not very common anywhere, for I remarked to 

 my host, " Where is your summer fallow to ensure a 

 periodical cleaning for all this cropping ? " and he 

 promptly replied, " Oh, the summer fallow was 

 driven out when Hitler came in, the inter-cropping 

 with sugar beet and potatoes does not admit many 

 weeds." 



On reflection it occurs to me what happy farmers 

 we should all be if we could get a Minister of 

 Agriculture appointed, who, with a magic wand, 

 could sweep away all weeds and rubbish from our 

 arable land. What it really amounts to, is that 

 under the Hitler regime, embracing as it does the 

 partial closing of the ports, if not entire closing, 

 against importations of goods which can be produced 

 in the country, every effort must be made to grow 

 heavy crops, and there would appear to be plenty 

 of men ready and willing to make that effort. 



Hitler says the labourer must be paid a fair wage, 

 and the farmer guaranteed a living profit, and 

 certainly there would appear to be a sense of satisfac- 

 tion and mutual trust prevailing in the rural areas, 

 which most probably springs from this arrangement, 

 or perhaps I should say, order. 



The farm wage, I gathered, was about three marks 

 per day. A mark in our English money would be 

 about IS. gd. This would put the wage bill on a 

 par with ours. The key men would get more, and 

 in many cases other privileges, such as a strip of 

 land and perhaps the use of the farmer's horses and 

 tools in the evening to gather in his crops. 



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