1321.] 



Agrici v lti"re Behinl the Lines. 



801 



AGRICULTURE BEHIND THE LINES 

 IN FRANCE. 



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

 Late Colonel, Royal Welsh Fusilier?, and late Deputy Director 

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

 Captain A. T. A. Dorsox. 

 Late Lieut . -Colonel , Hampshire li iment, and late Assistant 

 Director; Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Fisher . 



PART II.— Up to the Armistice, and after. 



The previous article took the reader up to the somewhat tragic 

 termination of the agricultural undertaking in the region of Boye. 

 Before, therefore., dealing with the subsequent activities of the 

 Directorate, after the great German advance in the spring oi 

 1918 had been brought to a standstill, some information as 

 regards the progress of the vegetable garden undertakings, which 

 already existed throughout the area of the British Army, may 

 not be out of place. 



As explained in the first article, it had originally been 

 intended that the Directorate should be responsible for super- 

 vising all agricultural activities in France. Although, there- 

 fore, the main undertaking at Eoye had absorbed most of 

 the time and energy of the Directorate's officers, time had 

 nevertheless been found to take stock of all the lesser under- 

 takings that already existed and to afford advice on the subject 

 of the cropping of Army and othei unit gardens, and generally 

 to organise the provision of the necessary implement-, -eeda 

 and manures required. 



At the time of the great Genua;- offensive, the total acreage 

 of the vegetable gardens in the British Army zone, exclusive of 

 the main undertaking at Eoye. amounted to 7.49?' acres, of which 

 at least 3,000 acres were devoted to potatoes. Another 7.000 

 acres had been marked out for cultivation, although operations 

 bad not actually been started. A considerable proportion of the 

 above acreage, especially in the areas of the Third and Fifth 

 Armies, and later of the Second Army, was affected by the 

 German advance, but over 4,000 acres still remained in a 

 flourishing condition when that advance had spent itself. 



Until the military situation showed some sign of settling down, 

 it was naturally impossible to consider the future of the Direc- 

 torate, or whether it had any future at all. For the moment, the 



