]!K1Ttaxy: yoke-matks inde;ed 



Life is no bed of roses for the peasants of Brittany. For the most part their land 

 holdings are too small to enable them to keep horses, and "their income is too little to enable 

 them to hire a team at seeding time, so they patiently drag their harrows back and forth 

 with their own hands until the seed bed is readv for the sowing. 



farming and forestal interests through 

 the activities of more than 250 separate 

 institutions, including an experimental 

 station for each of the 87 departments. 



What Avonder that France raises nearly 

 enough grain for its own use, and that its 

 wheat 3'ield has largely increased per acre 

 in recent years ! 



Such results have grown from im- 

 proved culture, chemical manures, mod- 

 ern machinery, and suppression of fal- 

 lows. While migration to cities occurs 

 somewhat, there has been no diminution 

 of small holdings in more than three- 

 fourths of the provinces. Utilizing the 

 French love of decorations, a most use- 

 ful practice, the conferring of the order 

 of Distinguished Agriculturist has for 

 years stimulated intensive farming, as 

 have the establishment of corn and to- 

 mato clubs in the United States. 



THE people's recreations 



While life first seeks the material, yet 

 its endless activities are such in this age 



as to demand distraction for mind and 

 body, to insure the sane development of 

 a people. The recreations of the French 

 are simpler and nearer to nature than 

 our own. The great masses are devoted 

 to frequent and inexpensive outings in 

 the country, or, when unavailable, find in 

 enormous numbers quiet pleasure in the 

 daily concerts, which add another charm 

 to the public groimds. The air of con- 

 tentment, the pervading gaiety, the sim- 

 plicity of entertainment, the personal 

 courtesy, the correctness of deportment, 

 and the excellent order among the great 

 masses of pleasure-seekers are conditions 

 that impress every alien observer. 



More and more these near-by outings 

 have expanded into journeys, and to 

 meet this change there have been formed 

 not only excellent travel clubs, but travel 

 bureaus have been established in the De- 

 partment of Public Works. The French 

 now make endless excursions — to the 

 Alps and Pyrenees, to the beaches from 



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