808 



Agriculture Behind the Lines. 



[Dec, 



The presence of these shell holes was a great source of 

 hindrance to tractor ploughing. The tractor would proceed with- 

 out mishap over an apparently untouched area, but as soon as 

 it passed over one of these submerged cavities, its weight proved 

 too much and down it went into the shell hole below the surface, 

 which in most cases was quite large enough to hold the entire 

 tractor, and operations had to be stopped until a detachment of 

 prisoners of war had excavated sufficiently to enable the tractor 

 to be dragged out. 



By the middle of October, ploughing was in actual operation 

 but by the end of January, 1919, ploughing more or less came 

 to an end on account of the reduction of available personnel 

 consequent upon demobilisation. By the latter date* however, 

 an area of no less than G.2B8 acres had been levelled and 

 prepared for ploughing, 4,000 acres had actually been pbnghed. 

 and of these over 800 acres had been sown with when. In one 

 area, alone there was practically one complete block of . about 

 600 acres of wheat. 



Fig. 4 is an aeroplane photograph taken for the Directorate by 

 the R.A.F. in the Field at a height of about 8.000 ft., which 

 shows the ploughed area round a section of trench system, which 

 was subsequently planted with wheat. The trench lines are 

 clearly visible, and the area ploughed is easily differentiated 

 from the area not ploughed. It should be noted, however, that 

 even on the ploughed areas there is a short length of trench 

 line which has been filled in, but is still clearlv visible from 

 the air. 



The last act of the Directorate before being themselves 

 demobilised was to effect the sale of the whole area to the 

 French Authorities, including huts, tractors, other machinery and 

 tillages, such an eventuality already having b°en allowed for 

 in the agreement under which the land was originally rented 

 for cultivation. Thus, the Department of the Somrao may be 

 said to have been more favourably situated than any other 

 devastated area in France in that here, at all events, over a 

 comparatively small area the inhabitants could be allowed to 

 return to find not only areos cultivated or roedv for cultivation, 

 but even rough homesteads Prepared for them, in the shape of 

 the hutted camps which h«d been constructed ^ f various points 

 for the housing? of the British personnel en^acred. 



By the 31st March, the Directorate may be said to have been 

 formally wound up and the demobilisation of personnel com- 

 pleted. 



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