l war pictures where
these roads have been shown, the rows of trees are always there. This
is an excellent feature and one that California with its rapidly
increasing mileage of concrete roads, might well follow.

Very few automobiles were seen on these highways, except those engaged
in war transportation. Of course at the time that I made my
observations, the country was engaged in war, and in peace times no
doubt more automobiles belonging to civilians are in use. It is a
fact, however, there are comparatively few automobiles among the civil
population of France. Only the very rich own them. The masses of the
people do not possess them, as in America. The civil population either
walk along these highways or travel in horse-drawn carts and wagons.
The carts are different from any that we see in America. Frequently
they are heavily constructed with wheels of from six to eight feet in
diameter. They are fitted with brakes, which are used on the grades.
They have a long body, that is, long for a cart, and this is laden
with the varied products of the small farms which are in this way
taken to market. Most frequently these carts are drawn by one horse,
though it is not unusual to see two or three horses hitched to one
when the load is heavy. When more than one horse is used, the animals
are not hitched abreast, but tandem. The wheel horse is hitched
between two long heavy shafts and his duty seems to be largely that of
steering the unwieldy conveyance, while the front horse or horses do
most of the pulling. The harness is heavy and the rear horse is
protected from sores that might be caused by rubbing, by a heavy and
well padded saddle and a heavy girth. It was a common sight to see a
woman driving one of these carts and guiding the wheel horse and
handling the brakes, while boys were either driving or leading the
leaders. These strange and cumbersome rigs, so different from any that
we had ever seen before, interested and amused us.

The crops in the section through which we passed on our first day out
of Brest appeared to be good. They gave me, a Californian with
considerable farming experience, the impression that agriculture has
been very carefully studied by the French. Occasionally we would see
small tracts lying fallow, apparently to give the land a needed rest,
while other tracts were being cultivated. On some of the small farms
it was haying season. We were surprised as we noted the methods of the
French farmer