62 THE GREAT WAR 



experts will teach the British smallholders the 

 Belgian methods of intensive cultivation, so 

 that they may be able to carry on the work 

 when the Belgians have gone home. 



The Belgians can grow as many as five suc- 

 cessive crops a year under glass. The plant re- 

 quired is of a very simple land, consisting, in the 

 main, of sheets of glass in rough wooden frames, 

 all of it made by the peasants themselves. The 

 Belgian process of improving the soil will be 

 specially taught. The Belgians have been com- 

 pelled to make the improvement of the land a 

 special study, and by so doing the peasants have 

 turned what was originally waste and barren 

 ground into fertile market gardens. 



Every day there is a considerable number of 

 our wounded soldiers returning from the front. 

 Though partially disabled most of these men 

 would be able and willing to work on the land 

 and learn from the Belgian agricultural refugees 

 their methods of preparing and cultivating the 

 soil. It would be wise, therefore, if the Govern- 

 ment, acting through the Board of Agriculture, 

 would, without a moment's delay, provide land 

 for the purpose. It is due to our wounded heroes 

 that this provision should be made for them. 



