December, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
55 
Heroic Women of France 
By Dr. Alonzo Taylor 
My words are not powerful 
enough to do even scanty justice 
to the most heroic figure in the 
modern world, and of ages past — 
the woman of France. 
Of the healthy men who are not 
engaged in the military service in 
France, practically all are en- 
gaged either in transportation of, 
or in the manufacture of muni- 
tions, leaving the agriculture ab- 
solutely to the women. Not only 
this, but they have stepped into 
the place of work animals ; you 
can go into any section of France 
today and se women of magnifi- 
cent, noble womanhood hitched to 
the plow and cultivating the soil. 
All of the agriculture rests upon 
their shoulders. The home, al- 
ways an extremely efficient one, 
maintains a few old men the 
wounded and the tubercular. Un- 
complaining, with high devotion, 
with an attitude that amounts al- 
most to religious exaltation, the 
woman of France bears the bur- 
den. 
Now, conditions being as they 
are, does it lie within the heart of 
the American people to preserve 
and hold to every convenience of 
our life at the expense of adding 
an additional burden to the wo- 
manhood of France? This is the 
exact question that is involved in 
our substitution of otl er cereals 
in place of wheat. 
The women of France must be 
enabled to hold up the morale of 
the French soldier until next 
spring. The morale of the house 
decides the morale of the soldier 
in the fighting line. We can do 
this by giving them the greatest 
possible freedom in their food 
supply, and of this wheat is the 
chief factom 
The Gardener’s Advisory Council 
(Continued from page 53) 
In a few cases five or six schools com- 
bined these exhibits, or as I have 
called them, “School Fairs” in a cen- 
tral hall. 
In the city about 350 children di 1 
some work in gardening. Of course 
not all saw the work through, but 
enough was done so that every ward 
school in the city had an agricultural 
exhibit. Small prizes were given in 
each ward school. The best of all ex- 
hibits was displayed in one of the win- 
dows of a down town store. 
As for grown-ups and their gardens, 
will say that fully twice as much land 
in oui city of Manitowoc was planted 
to gardens as ever before. About one- 
third of the additional gardeners had 
little experience in gardening. Many 
questions regarding gardens were 
asked of me. If I could not give the 
information, I referred them to men 
of more experience and also to state 
bulletins on the subject. I had on 
hand many bulletins which gave im- 
mediate help. 
The work of school children’s gard- 
ens will go on next year. How much 
other beginners in gardening will do 
next year is hard to say, but am in- 
clined to believe more gardening in 
general will result from our first con- 
certed action toward more and better 
gardening. — C. W. Meisnest, Manito- 
woc. 
As this is not a city, hut a farming 
locality, every farm has a so-called 
garden, but very few are real gardens. 
A real garden should be planted to 
enough vegetables to supply the daily 
table throughout the season, and a sur- 
plus of some varieties for canning and 
of some for winter storage. Most 
gardens had only a spring planting of 
some of the common vegetables, 
whereas successive planting of some 
varieties is not practiced at all, while 
some of our most delicious vegetables 
are unknown to many. In many in- 
stances cultivation was insufficient, as 
in the hot dry season when there were 
no weeds there was also no cultivation. 
My advice to those people is to plant 
more varieties and have successive 
plantings of some of them and also to 
do more cultivation to loosen the soil 
whether there are weeds or none. 
Hoping my little work will do some 
good, and as I assume we will again 
have to do our duty to the country 
needs the coming season, I am ready 
to do my share. — Miss E. M. Goelzer. 
The beginners in gardening, of 
whom there were more than usual, had 
the usual sorrows that go with the pro- 
fession but with all the troubles. I am 
glad to say, there was some very good 
work done. Of the adult amateurs, 
probably half will not try it again but 
the other half will raise practically as 
much as all did this year. 
The greatest difficulty was through 
lack of appreciation of the benefits of 
cultivation. One wholesome result is 
that many will realize more forcibly 
than ever before the fact that the peo- 
ple who raise their beans and pota- 
toes need to know and do something 
besides dropping seeds into the ground. 
— E. H. Niles, Oconomowoc. 
If there was any especial effort made 
to increase the products of the gardens 
in the village gardens, it was either 
potatoes or beans. Some of the yields 
of potatoes would do credit to a gen- 
eral farm crop. There are always a 
few who think they can buy cheaper 
than they can produce, and a few 
gardens would bear out the conclusion, 
if their owners earned enough any 
other way to purchase same. The 
garden excuses the purchase, and the 
chance to purchase excuses the garden. 
They are as easily satisfied as “Pat 
whose pig cost him more than it sold 
for six months later.” He had the use 
of the pig. — H. H. Harris. 
Cyclamens are amon? the desir- 
able house pi; nts at this time of 
year. They may be kept over sev- 
eral weeks if kept in a ecol room 
and if some attention is given to 
their watering. Tt takes about IS 
months 1o bring the plant to flower 
from seek Hence, it is not des'r- 
able to raise them in the house 
from seed. 
Be sure that the snow is well 
tramped about the appD and plum 
trees. This will discourage m'c.i 
from nesting near them. 
