1921.] 



Agkiculture Behind the Lines. 



681 



AGRICULTURE BEHIND THE LINES 

 IN FRANCE. 



Lieut. -Colonel J. H. Forrester Addie, C.B.E., 

 Late Colonel, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and late Dc'puty Director 

 of Agricultural Production, G.H.Q., France, and 



Captain A. T. A. Dorson, 

 Late Lie at. -Colonel, Hampshire Regiment, and late Assistant 

 Director; Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. 



Part I.~Up to the End of the German Offensive in 1918. 



■ Probably few people, unless familiar with the actual opera- 

 tions of the Army in France, have any idea of the extent to 

 which that Army was self-supporting and of the steps that were 

 being taken, when the War happily terminated in November, 

 1918, to render food production a definite part of the Army's 

 operations. 



It has been frequently observed that for every man engaged 

 in the actual operations of fighting, there are some three or 

 four engaged on the lines of communication and at the bases in 

 supplying the fighting man in the trenches w^ith food, ammuni- 

 tion and equipment. The Arm}^ in France contained men of 

 all tastes and all trades, and it is not to be w^ondered at there- 

 fore that, at the many bases and stations on the lines of com- 

 munication, such as ammunition dumps, supply dumps and 

 so forth, there were to be found men with an agricultural 

 training, or at all events, with a sufficient inclination and 

 knowledge to spend their off hours in recreation of an agricul- 

 tural nature. 



It was for this reason that from an early date the establish- 

 ment of garden plots became a regular feature of the various 

 Army establishments of a more or less stationary nature, from 

 the base ports up to within a reasonable distance of the fighting 

 line. Even in Divisional areas, namely, those within, say 10 

 miles of the front line, agricultural operations were also pro- 

 secuted, but the constant moving of units, from one part of 

 the front to another, naturally deprived such operations of any 

 very great stability. 



These early operations w^ere largely, if not entirely, carried 

 out by the enterprise of individual units and of their Command- 

 ing Officers, who realised the necessity for keeping their troops 



