THE FACE OF ENGLAND.
It is extraordinary how little evidence there is to the general gaze of the depression on the farms. England never looked lovelier. Even the fruit blossom externally showed little sign of the effect of the frost, though many orchards lost the last hope of a harvest. The petal flourished though the pistil died. The general farms seldom bore a brighter appearance. The wheat is "a good plant " ; the spring sowing has been a success ; the grass is growing at great speed ; the hops have begun their rapid climb satisfactorily, and wherever you go the stock look supremely good. In spite of losses even in that paradise, I never saw farms so suggestive of prosperity as those in the Teme Valley, which is, of course, one of the best and loveliest farming districts in the world. Here, too, as in the Fens, many more farmers, big and small, are growing sugar beet. When one sees so successful a factory as that at Kidderminster, one wonders why the eastern counties enjoy almost a monopoly of this new and most prosperous farming industry. The beet plant grows as well in the southern and western counties as in East Anglia. W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
