The Effect of the 
Somme Battles on the Soil 
of Picardy 
Sir William Matthews, in the course of a graphic account of the 
state of the ground in Picardy which has been recovered as the result 
of the Allies' offensive, makes the serious observation that the thin 
layer of marl which constitutes the surface soil of that district has in 
large measure disappeared as the result of artillery fire, mining and 
other operations of war. So churned up are the soil and subsoil that 
when once again leveled the surface will consist mainly of chalk. 
The cost of leveling and creating once again a fertile soil will be 
undoubtedly beyond the resources of peasant proprietors and farmers. 
Sir William suggests that the work of leveling might be undertaken 
by prisoners of war, and the cost reckoned as military outlay. French 
cultivators will be able, with such or similar assistance from the 
State, to restore their land to its previous state of fertility. Never- 
theless, it will be a slow process, for a natural soil is of slow growth, 
and to hasten the formation of a surface soil must prove inevitably a 
costly operation. We are not aware of the existence of any recorded 
experience of reclamation of this type. It is possible, that after level- 
ing and cultivating the ground, lime-loving plants may prove efficient 
agents of reclamation — or, rather, of soil reconstruction. Of one 
thing we may be sure : that if any people can discover a rapid way of 
rebuilding their devastated soil that people is the French. Of this 
also we may be certain : that if the British people can help in any way 
in this work that help will be forthcoming, and in no unstinted 
measure. 
The length of time that must elapse before these devastated lands 
are again fertile is variously estimated at from fifteen to a hundred 
years, small comfort, in either case, to the present generation. 
From somewhere there comes a rumor of a beautiful and fitting 
use of this battle-scarred strip of earth : that where the trenches have 
been a great forest be planted dedicated for all time to those who have 
died to give it back to France. This great burial place of the honored 
dead would stretch for miles through the midst of France, everywhere 
a glorious monument to heroism, patriotism and idealism. 
America Assumes Responsibility 
On March 16th, the Council of Presidents passed the following 
motion: That the Garden Club of America recommend to Mem- 
ber Clubs that the growing of vegetables, especially winter vegetables, 
