An experiment

For the first time in the history of this blog, I shall attempt to add a French translation of this blog underneath the English version. I will be using the Google translate machine and translating each sentence at a time as I am not a successful translator. I apologise in advance if it does not translate literally, but if you would like to supply some translations, it would be very kind of you.

This entry includes some advice from past writers to the situation we find ourselves in today as well as a brief explanation of past measurements used by English farmers. I would very much like to know if our continental farmers used such a similar set of old measurement systems.

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living public assistance." Cicero 55 BC

It would have been good to think that Cicero had indeed said this, however a search on the Internet finds that it originated from a book called, "A Pillar of Iron" published in 1965 and written by Taylor Caldwell as a fictionalised account of the life of Cicero. John H. Collins wrote in a letter to The Chicago Tribune on the 20th of April 1971 that the above quote was written by Caldwell without documentation to the original quote. More information can be found here. Although maybe some of the politicians should take some of the advice.

"Guidelines for bureaucrats: 1) When in doubt, mumble. 2) When in trouble, delegate. 3) When in charge, ponder", James H Boren.

Mr. Boren was a political scientist, humorist and teacher who died in April 2010. He worked with the presidential campaign for John F. Kennedy and was given the Governor's Meritorious Honor Medal for his economic work in Peru and Latin America. 

Why is it that we get useful information from all walks of life that seems to be unheeded or not listened to by the politicians?

So onto an old form of measurement. The chain was used a form of length measurement and being 66 feet or 22 yards. 10 chains made a furlong and 80 made a statute mile. The concept of the chain was first used by a clergyman, named Edmund Gunter, in 1620 who wanted to find a low-tech version of recording lengths and distances for surveyors. Gunter's chain was still used in English legal documents until 1960. The distance between two wickets on a cricket pitch is one chain.

Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de ce blog, je vais tenter d'ajouter une traduction en français et en allemand de ce blog au-dessous la version anglaise. Je vais utilise Google translate la machine et traduire chaque phrase à un momentque je ne suis pas un traducteur de succès. Je m'excuse d'avance si elle ne se traduit pas littéralement, mais si vous voulezfournir des traductions, ce serait très gentil de votre part.

Cette entrée comprend quelques conseils d'écrivains passés à la situation que nousnous trouvons aujourd'hui, ainsi qu'une brève explication des anciennes mesuresutilisées par les agriculteurs anglais. Je voudrais bien savoir si nos agriculteurs continentaux utilisé un tel ensemble similaire de systèmes de mesure anciens.

"Le budget doit être équilibré, le Trésor doit être rempli, la dette publique devrait être réduite, l'arrogance de la bureaucratie doit être tempérée et contrôlée, et l'assistance aux pays étrangers devrait être réduite de peur que Rome fait faillite. Les gens doivent réapprendre à travailler, au lieu de vivre l'assistance publique." Cicero 55 BC

Il aurait été bon de penser que Cicéron avait en effet dit cela, mais une recherche surl'Internet estime qu'il provenait d'un livre appelé, "une colonne de fer", publié en 1965 et écrit par Taylor Caldwell comme un récit romancé de la vie de Cicéron. John H. Collins a écrit dans une lettre adressée à The Chicago Tribune, le 20 avril1971 que la citation ci-dessus a été écrit par Caldwell, sans documentation pour la citation originale. Plus d'informations peuvent être trouvées ici. Bien que peut-être certains des hommes politiques devraient prendre quelques-uns des conseils.

"Lignes directrices pour les bureaucrates: 1) En cas de doute, Mumble. 2) Lorsquedes ennuis, délégué. 3) Lorsque la charge, à réfléchir", James H Boren.

M. Boren fut un politologue, humoriste et professeur décédé en avril 2010. Il a travaillé avec la campagne présidentielle de John F. Kennedy et a donné la médaille du gouverneur d'honneur pour son travail méritoire économique au Pérouet en Amérique latine.

Pourquoi est-il que nous obtenons des informations utiles de tous les horizons de la vie qui semble être ignorés ou pas écouté par les politiciens?

Donc sur une ancienne forme de mesure. La chaîne a été utilisé une forme de mesure de longueur et 66 pieds étant ou 22 mètres. 10 chaînes de fait une Furlong et 80 a fait un mile statut. Le concept de la chaîne a d'abord été utilisé par un ecclésiastique, nommé EdmundGunter, en 1620 qui voulait trouver une version low-tech de longueursd'enregistrement et les distances pour les arpenteurs. Chaîne de Gunter est encore utilisée en anglais de documents juridiques jusqu'en 1960. La distance entre les deux guichets sur un terrain de cricket est une chaîne.

An invader from the past

In the mid sevenites, and I mean the date and not the temperature, my father - a farmer - found a plant in the edge of his crop of wheat. The green leaves stood out amongst the yellowing heads and the serrated edges gave the leaves a more dubious nature. He was concerned enough to send a sample to both the Police and to Wye Agricultural College, he feared that an illicit plant had been sown near the edge of the crop. A potential crop of cannabis, perhaps. A similar plant had reared its vegetative head in gardens and industrial yards over England - Barking, Surrey, Sussex. What did it look like? It had the ability to grow a foot in length or height in a week, some say eighteen inches in four days; it had a white or violet trumpet shaped flower that would bloom at night; it produced a hard spiked date shaped fruit and that it had a chocolate-coloured stem.

The results came back from various sources, including a Mr. Rose from the Ministry of Agriculture that the plant was Datura stronomium, a thorn apple, also known as jimson weed or stink flower, the latter due to its unpleasant odour. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, it is "is an annual weed of gardens, roadsides and other waste or cultivated land. It is widely naturalised in warmer countries throughout the world, and is quite common in the British Isles, often appearing in waste and cultivated ground." But as it is linked to one of the family that includes deadly nightshade, potato and tobacco, it does have poisonous seeds. The linked website above does give pictures of both the plant and the hard spiked fruit.

Have any of the Eurolink members seen potential invaders in their crops, how have they dealt with them, what have you learnt from other farmers in dealing with these invaders? I would be interested in your thoughts as I am sure others would as well.

A Horn of Plenty

Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Mother Earth and the protectoress of agriculture, is often portrayed with a horn taken from a ram that is filled with flowers and fruits. It has been described as a horn from the head of a goat from which Jupiter was suckled when nursed by Amalthaea, the wife of King Ammon. This description was reworded from The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which was put together by the Reverend E. Cobham Brewer.

Therefore this post, to those that read this, will be a collection of agricultural nuggets taken from a variety of sources. I hope that they help to remind you of agricultural traditions from your country and I would love to hear from you of these.

There is a nursery rhyme that talks of the Jolly Miller who lived on the River Dee. This was about a real life mill at Chester from the 11th century, who was the envy of Henry the Eighth due to his vast independence and wealth. The mill was burnt down in the late 1800s after the death of the Jolly Miller's last relation. (Mulherin, 1981)

The nursery rhyme of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep has been known for 200 years and even Rudyard Kipling, the Sussex author, used it in his book of the same title (Mulherin, 1981). Maybe it has something to do with a bag of wool going to the master and the master could be the church or the landlord. Anyone know? The phrase "Black Sheep" are often used to describe workmen who will not join in with a strike, they are looked on with disgust by shepherds and are not as valuable as white ones (Brewer 1978).

The nursery rhyme of Oranges and Lemons may have something to do with the citrus fruits, but it also helps to describe the ringing peal of church bells. The first church is thought either to be the church of St. Clement's in Eastcheap, which was near to the wharves in East London where the citrus fruit was unloaded from the ships. It could also be a church that was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the church of St. Clement Danes (Mulherin, 1981).

There are many nursery rhymes and allegorical tales that include farmyard animals. For example, the aforementioned "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", as well as these ones including "Mary had a little lamb", "This little pig went to market" and hopefully they help to explain animal differentiation for young children. The last rhyme describes one pig who eats roasts beef. There are also a lot of rhymes that describe people with food, Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper, Jack Sprat with his inability to eat fat and old Simple Simon who never got to eat a pie. Naturally, there are rhymes that combine both food and animals, one example being a of a fox who took a grey goose back to his family in the den. (Mulherin 1981)

We are all in the process of making food or drink for the masses and it is not that amazing that our livelihood permeates both through culture and history. So, are there any of you reading this who know of similar nursery rhymes or allegorical tales that detail our agricultural inheritance? I would love to hear from you. Meanwhile next week, I shall endeavour to translate one of the previous blog posts into a few European languages.

The two books used in this blog post are Brewer, E. C. (1978) The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" Avenel Publishing and originally written in 1870.

Mulherin, J. (1981) Popular Nursery Rhymes - Mother Goose Rhymes with Explanations and Illustrations Granada Publishing

It was interesting to note that in The Telegraph (22nd of August 2011) that "Farmers are using social media to promote business and boost profits." An online survey by JCB Workwear found that 53% of an interviewed 1,000 people used sites like Twitter and Facebook to find up to date information and sharing information. Have you recently converted to social media on the Internet to help your business?

Getting to Number One

To get to Number One in the charts is not easy. If you have no talent it is, though sometimes you may not think it, impossible. What can you do is to recognise talent and back it.

Global warming is pushing up the temperatures, by the 1980's a few English farmers were growing maize, others were going abroad. I was doing both, mostly short frequent trips to visit French farmers who were newly made friends (Bretons actually, quite different). Early one morning I was loaded into a coach full of farmers. We sped across France along empty roads arriving at a huge conference centre. Time for speeches by the French Minister of Agriculture, then the man from the Ministry of Agriculture. They inspired French farmers, they were contemptuous of British Agriculture. "They are not serious." Spain was a threat, earlier, more sunshine, they could only be matched by more research and better plant breeding. Britain presented a great market to be fought for and won. Spain, well, the farmers cheered, they knew what to do, blockade the border, trash the goods.

After the political fire, I sat with 100 farmers to eat a four course lunch with some great wine. The conference centre was the hub of a research station so I wandered. Finding plots of maize of outstanding merit, notes were made and a choice, which seemed suitable for England, made: returned home resolved.

Enquired about seed - none available; wrote to France - the French never reply or write letters; phoned to say I was coming to France to collect seed legally or illegally; ten days later without warning seed for 17 acres was delivered, no invoice just a message, "We may come to inspect" - they didn't. A few more bags on the truck were heading to experimental stations.

So we grew 20:80 (also known as LG 20:80 Maize Seed) - WOW! Now forgotten but top of the charts through the 1980's it started a revolution in maize growing, feeding cows, fattening bullocks, rearing calves. Two years later they came to make a film about 20:80, no-one ever saw it, I was the star but ended up on the cutting room floor, gutted.

Eurolink introduced me to those French farmers, still visiting. It is good to know your enemies, to understand their codes, to learn. Try it. By the way, the conference was organised by I.C.I., remember them?

Paddy Cumberlege

The Creation and the Evolution of Eurolink

Eurolink was created over thirty years ago. It was the brainchild of an established Sussex farmer, launched with the help of a small enthusiastic Committee and myself, as an executive with international experience and contacts. It was supported and sponsored by the South of England Agricultural Society, a well-known bank and a shipping line.

John Cyster blazed the trail by journeying to Libramont in the Belgian Ardennes, where there was and is a large agricultural show similar to Ardingly. After many glasses of wine he persuaded the officers of the show to participate in the new scheme, whereby Belgian farming couples could stay with English farmers for a week at Showtime and return the hospitality at some time during the year. This was a unique concept in the U.K. and allowed farmers of different nationalities to have an in-depth experience of each other's farming methods, to discuss their problems in a relaxed manner, and to help with solutions.

A similar visit was made to the agricultural show in Rennes, resulting in French farmers participating in Eurolink, and later included in the Netherlands, and in due course, Germany, Spain and Hungary. The buzz in the International Pavilion at the Ardingly Show grew and grew and attracted important visitors from ambassadors and royalty from this country and dignitaries from abroad. Prime Ministers gave it their blessing.

In order to facilitate the continuation of contacts made during the exchanges, the EUROLINK AGRICOLAE CLUB was formed for those have taken part. It arranges annual reunions in the different countries, with agricultural and cultural interest, and keeps everyone in touch through regular newsletters.

As the years went by the supply of farmers with the interest and spare time to enter the original Eurolink scheme dried up, due to the many difficulties besetting the industry. A new scheme was then devised, with grants given by the South of England Agricultural Society to groups of farmers for a short visit to another country to study the specific aspect of a land based industry. The International Farmlink Committee was formed to manage this.

The Eurolink Club, however, continues in the same format and has expanded to include anyone with an interest in meeting farmers from other countries. As they have not had the experience of a Eurolink exchange they are known as Associate Members.

The Eurolink Club welcomes new members of any age and invites anyone to get in touch.

Alison Woodhead

Part Three of the River Tour from Eurolink's 2010 Reunion

From, last week's, point, we progressed to the Thames Barrier, which we passed through and, during this time, we heard more about flood risk management from Sarah Lavery. The Barrier is one of London's most striking and famous landmarks, with its distinctive stainless steel piers, it spans 520 metres across the Thames near Woolwich. It has 10 steel gates that can be raised into a position across the river Thames if a tidal surge is predicted, and it became operational in 1982. When raised, the main gates stand as high as a five storey building and as wide as the opening of Tower Bridge. Each main gate weigh 3,700 tons. Unusually, one of the gates was closed for maintenance, which enabled us to see what it looks like. The Thames Barrier is one of the largest moveable flood barriers in the world. It protects 125 square kilometres of central London. This includes 1.25 million people, historic buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, offices, power supplies, tube lines and hospitals to name just a few.

The Environment Agency maintains the Barrier, as well as the other flood defences of the capital, which include flood gates, i.e the Barking Barrier, and raised river banks. The planning of flood risk management in the Thames Estuary is looking 100 years ahead.

Over £80 billion worth of property lies within the Thames tidal flood plain, the majority of which is in  London itself. This property is protected to a high standard, and London and the Thames Estuary currently have one of the best tidal defence systems in the world, which will provide a high standard of protection to well beyond 2030. However, the effects of climate change  present an unwelcome picture for the flood risk of future generations. Planning for "flood risk management" in the Thames Estuary is an initiative by Anglian, Southern and Thames regions of the Environment Agency, to develop a strategy for flood risk management in the Estuary for the next 100 years. One of the studies will examine London's vulnerability to storm surge today and in the future, and develop options to ensure the sustainability of London in the face of this increasing threat.

On our return to Greenwich, the increasing number of reed beds re-establishing themselves along the river banks were pointed out to us, and they reach as far as the Globe Theatre. These have aided the return of much of the river wildlife, including birds, insects, plants and mammals. We saw other examples of flood risk management by lowering of the river walls outside the O2 Arena (formerly known as the Millennium Dome).

During the course of this trip, we enjoyed a delicious lunch aboard the William B, which everyone appreciated whilst sailing down the river. Finally, we disembarked at Greenwich, where we said goodbye to our speakers and Niek Ruyter gave a vote of thanks and made a presentation on behalf of the Club.

Part Two of the River Tour from Eurolink's 2010 Reunion

A huge diversity of cargo is handled in the Port of London, and it amounted to a total of 53.8 million tons in 2005; this underlines the London's place as one of the top three ports in the UK. There are more than 70 independently owned port facilities, terminals and wharves along the tidal Thames. Vessels sailing to and from these port facilities and all other craft on the tidal Thames operate under the jurisdiction of the PLA, which is the statutory conservation, harbour, navigation and pilotage authority for the tidal Thames from Teddington, in west London, out to sea, a distance of 95 miles (150 km). The PLA also work to meet the needs of leisure users and all those who have an interest in the tidal Thames. The PLA also work to meet the needs of leisure users and all those who have an interest in the tidal Thames.

The PLA employs many staff including administrative staff, officers, personnel afloat in marine and harbour services, engineering technical support, pilots and vessel traffic services. It is perfectly placed at the heart of the prosperous markets of London and the south-east, where more than 21 million people live within a 2 hour journey of the port. The PLA contributes more than 3.4 billion pounds to the region's economy each year and supports over 35,200 full-time jobs.

The following points of historical interest were made as we progressed down the river:

• Waterloo Bridge was built mainly by women during World War II.
• The steel for the new Blackfriars Bridge was brought in by barges on the river.
• The river wall in front of the Tate Modern has been lowered to as part of a managed realignment of the river bank, which will be allowed to flood and will be safe.
• The Queenhithe Dock is the oldest dock on the Thames, built by the Anglo-Saxons in 900 A.D.
• The reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is the only thatched roof in London since the Great Fire in 1666.
• Near Southwark Bridge is the waste transfer point for removing waste from the City of London  by barge and not by road - this is taken down to Mucking in Essex. The returning barges  bring sand up to Battersea and they have to use the centre arch of the bridges. 
• A seaworthy replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, lies in a wharf near the Globe Theatre.
• The historic Billingsgate fish market is now a conference centre.
• The Tower of London has the oldest flood defence in London- a stone wall which is 700 years old, and nearby is the old police station in the world.
• Hays Wharf, in the pool of London, is known as "London's larder", where most of the food items brought into the UK are unloaded for forward transit.

More later this week, I am currently typing this from the window of an Italian villa looking at the Dolomites and tomorrow I drive back through Italy, Switzerland and France and pass copious hectares of arable crops, hops and vines.