shrubbery are seldom seen. Each dwelling abuts closely upon 

 the street; the only yard consists of a small plot in the rear 

 confined within garden walls. As in the case of the congested 

 areas of our large cities, the street is the playground of youth. 

 Children share the village square with geese and poultry. Ideas 

 of beauty and even the rudiments of neatness and order are 

 entirely lacking. Heaps of barnyard refuse and bits of agri- 

 cultural implements often litter the dooryards, and even the 

 main streets are not free from trash and filth. Plumbing is 

 unknown; the water of the village fountain quenches the thirst 

 of man and beast alike. The same roof shelters both the farmer 

 and his livestock. A door often leads direct from the living room 

 to the stable. The existing sanitary conditions can easily be 

 imagined. 



The farmer is a town dweller; he does not live upon the 

 soil he cultivates. Generally there is a small garden adjacent 

 to the house; the main holdings lie outside the village. This 

 custom of living in groups is undoubtedly a survival of unsettled 

 times when all people lived within walled towns for the purpose 

 of mutual protection against roving brigands and other persons 

 of hostile intent. 



5. Industries. As stated in a preceding paragraph, agri- 

 cultural methods are decidedly primitive. The cultivation of land 

 in strips, a scheme employed in England five hundred years ago, 

 is common. The chief crops are potatoes, hay, oats, and wheat. 

 These are planted in alternating strips in the same field. Crop 

 rotation is not closely followed. The farm wagon consists of a 

 huge, clumsy, two-wheeled cart drawn by one or more horses 

 in single file. It is not an uncommon sight to see an ox, donkey, 

 and horse hitched to a plow in a single file. Even milch cows, 

 in the stress of abnormal times, are pressed into service as draught 

 animals. The methods of harvesting and threshing grain are 

 antiquated. Although in a few instances a reaper or binder of 

 American manufacture is used, almost all the grain is still cut 

 with a "cradle," a device employed by the American farmer 

 before the advent of modern agricultural machinery. After the 

 sheaves are gathered the fields are hand raked, and often the 

 scattered straws are gleaned by hand. The labor of the field is 

 a family activity, youths, women, and old men toiling together. 



3 



