682 AGRicrLTi-RE Behind the Lines. 



in good heart by supplying them with healthy and interesting 

 occupation in the hours set aside for recreation. 



It soon, however, became apparent to the Authorities at 

 G.H.Q. that this movement was one which ought also to be 

 encouraged from the food supply point of view, and ought not 

 to be left solely to the more or less private enterprise of indivi- 

 dual units. Moreover, within the zone in the more immediate 

 neighbourhood of the fighting front, the Army Authorities were 

 constantly receiving requests from the French Authorities for 

 assistance in harvesting the various crops to be secured in areas 

 from which civilians had had to be withdrawn or in areas where 

 civilians found labour difficult to procure, owing to the inroads 

 made by the War on the male population. 



It was not, however, until the middle of 1917 that the whole 

 aspect of the question of food production began to demand the 

 serious attention of the Quartermaster-G-eneral's staff at 

 General Headquarters. 



The submarine campaign had begun to take its toll to a 

 menacing extent, and it began to be evident that the more 

 independent the British Army in France could become of food 

 supplies from home, more particularly potatoes (which absorbed 

 a great deal of tonnage) , vegetables, hay and cereals, the better 

 for all concerned. With the conditions existing in France, a 

 plentiful supply of fresh green vegetables was an invaluable if 

 not essential item in the diet of the fighting soldier. 



The Quartermaster-General was not unmindful of the iact 

 that the area known as the British Army Zone comprised some 

 of the richest agricultural land in France. Moreover, no one 

 could be blind to the great success which had attended the 

 systematic agricultural operations, in the form of vegetable 

 gardens, which had been carried out by the troops of the French 

 Army. 



The first steps to be taken, therefore, were to place the whole 

 undertaking on a properly recognised footing. Up to that time 

 units had obtained the necessary money for the purchase of 

 seeds from the Expeditionary Force Canteens, who were repaid 

 as soon as the crop had been harvested and taken over by the 

 Director of Supplies, the unit being credited with the value. 



New arrangements were now made. It was decided that all 

 money required should be advanced from the Fund, which 

 existed at G.H.Q., known as the By-Products Fund, and the 

 only units which were entitled to an advance from this Fund 

 were to be the five Armies, the Lines of Communication as a 



