He pointed to the extensive orchards which exist in
Alsace-Lorraine and Baden, the military covering value of which
he had determined from personal experience, having conducted
aerial operations while military were moving to and fro under the
cover of the trees. He declared that the cover was efficient and
that under the circumstances the laying out of extensive orchards
in strategical places should be carried out without any delay.
This, he urged, was a national and not a private obligation. He
advocated the bestowal of subsidies on the farmers to encourage
the planting of fruit trees. He suggested that the trees should
be provided by the State, and given to all who were prepared to
plant them; that substantial prizes should be awarded to
encourage the rapid growth thereof, and that annual prizes should
be awarded to the man who would undertake their cultivation and
pruning, not from the fruit-yielding point of view, but for
facilitating the movement of troops beneath their dense branches.
He even urged the military acquisition of suitable land and its
determined, skilful, and discreet exploitation by those who loved
the Fatherland.
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