CONDITIONS IN. FRANCE
SIR,—In his article Farming in France of the 17th October Mr. Oyler states that we have much to learn from French farms and methods of farming, but he gives a misleading picture of conditions in France today. I have just returned from two months in France, during which I travelled about two thousand miles, principally in Burgundy, Champagne and Lorraine, and I noted in particular the following points in connection with Mr. Oyler's article. (1) The villagers also ate bread made of maize and other cereals and in my opinion this bread is not good considering its food value and price. (2) The French roads, on the whole, are in much worse condition even than our own. Very little has been done to them since the end of the war except the levelling up of the National Roads. The minor and farm roads have had nothing done to them since the war, and therefore all vehicles used for farm work, whether mechanical or drawn by animals, have a shorter length of life than would their English counterparts. (3) All the bridges in Eastern France have been destroyed, and there are in their places occasional temporary ones but certainly not all have been replaced. Frequent detours have to be made over country lanes varying in distance from one to four or five miles. (4) It is possible to buy almost as much milk as you like if you go to the farms to fetch it, but the price is the same if not more than in the town shops. (5) Potato plants are covered with Colorado beetles, and the French ;farmers take them for granted, expecting to have them, not, as in England, calling in the police.—Yours faithfully, J. R. BURDET.
Marling, Wadhurst, Sussex.
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