We are especially gratified at this time and it is a matter of much 
pride to know that a very great amount of the work necessary for this 
large production has been done by some of our students. 
They took great interest in the work and did the work just as well 
as the average man and made good far beyond the most sanguine 
expectations. (Signed) Louis P. Gillespie, 
General Superintendent. 
Women of the Land Army in England at Work 
Extracts from The Times, London, July 26, 1917. 
From 12 counties women came to the Women's Farm Competi- 
tions held at Mr. Gilbey's Estate, Bishop's Stortford. Eight classes of 
entries were: Milking; poultry killing and plucking; manure carting; 
ditching and hedge trimming; harnessing; harrowing; driving and hoe- 
ing. Some of the best known farmers in Hertfordshire and Essex 
acted as judges and so close was the competition that even the judges, 
who had a very fair knowledge of the good work on the land which 
was being done by women, were surprised. 
The purpose was to convince unbelieving farmers that there are 
certain farm operations which women can do as well as men. The 
competitors achieved even more; they converted many women on- 
lookers to the call of the land. Across the sun-scorched fields the land 
women, bronzed and freckled, strode with easy step, splendidly 
healthy. With bill-hook and stick they cleared out the ditches. 
Strong of arm, they piled their carts with manure. They hoed, draw- 
ing the earth well up around the plants. They harnessed horses that 
seemed to need as many odds and ends for their working toilet as a 
beauty dressing for her first ball. 
The women milked cows that they did not know — always a 
perilous thing to do — first making friends with them. But the driving 
tests were among the hardest. Two inches on either side was all the 
space that was allowed between the wheels of their milk carts and the 
white posts which lined the course and fell if they were but grazed by 
the vehicles. 
The competitors were a democratic crowd. Here was a pretty 
housemaid who had acquired a great fund of high spirits with her 
freedom from broom and backstairs, and there was a girl fresh from 
training at the old universities, whose straight harrowing was a delight 
to watch. 
In spite of many other demands for women's services, the call of 
the land still remains strong and the need urgent. It must not be 
thought that because the autumn has set in women are no longer 
wanted. Cows must be milked, stock tended, and the cleaning of the 
land carried on, and there are also the claims of forestry and forage. 
