HARVEST PROBLEMS.
Birds occupy much place in the "happy autumn fields" where harvesters work and sportsmen walk. In the South and Midlands we have seen the quickest—and latest— clearing of the fields within memory. Farmers set to work, like bees during the honey-flow, when the sun returned. They cut and carried to such effect that a week transformed the face of the country. The "joy in harvest" has not been hilarious ; but in spite of shaken grain and sprouted sheaves a fair average harvest has been gathered. The curiosity of the year is the autumnal haysel. Many farmers and most owners of parks are puzzled by the difficulty of dealing with the grass. Its length and, above all, its thick- ness suggest a wet June. Some few have boldly reaped it, as if September were really June ; but in a good many places it is going to waste. Neither owners nor neighbours have stock enough to eat it down. Owners of parks are often faced by a similar difficulty, but seldom in so acute a form. What should be worth much is in fact worthless. A solution is wanted.
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