But in spite of all the difficulties which agricultural work presents for women, they are taking it up in ever-increasing numbers, in view of the country’s necessity. The success of women in agriculture is largely due to a splendid organisation, the Women’s National Land Service Corps, formed privately, but now working in close co-operation with the Government departments. This corps first advertised the necessity for the employment of women on the land, and initiated opportunities for their training on a large scale. [Illustration: WOMEN ON THE LAND: (1) MOTOR THRASHING MACHINE: (2) MISS MATHEWS WITH A CULTIVATOR _Alfieri_ _To face page 115_ ] Miss Dorothy Mathews and Miss Margaret Hughes are two typical workers, educated women used to comfortable surroundings, who have come forward to fill the places of the men who have gone to fight. Miss Mathews and Miss Hughes are engaged in the heaviest forms of agricultural work, which, however, they report to be quite within the power of women. The healthy outdoor life and the work itself naturally tend to increase strength, “and,” said Miss Mathews recently, “we are astonished at the ease with which we do things that seemed almost impossible some months ago.” The usual farm day starts with milking, and when this is done the serious work begins, varying according to the season of the year. The field work is of course the heaviest, but Miss Mathews and Miss Hughes each takes out her own team of horses for ploughing and harrowing, and as they are working in a very hilly part of the country, in Herefordshire, this is exceptionally hard. Writing to a friend recently, Miss Hughes said: “On our first morning at the farm we were put straight on to ploughing a field up on the hills, with a glorious view across the Wye Valley and right on to the Malvern Hills. Happily, we managed quite well, though we were in a ‘blue funk,’ having only our one month of training-college experience to go on. We went on ploughing practically every day, and our last piece of work before the frost set in was to help plough up an eight-acre piece that had been under grass for eleven years--it was a business!”