NEW HARVESTERS.
The speed of harvesting in this Lincolnshire crop was due; not so much to the weather—though this has baked the grain harder than we often see it in England—but to the use of the new multiple machines, which perform all the operations; short of milling, at one and the same time. These were successfully used last year on one Hampshire estate ; and it seems probable that their extended use will soon save the farmer a deal of time, trouble, and waste. Many a stack of wheat, kept late for want of threshers or by the farmer's idiosyncrasy, is penetrated by rats and mice which will soon decimate the ears. An overseas critic has recently been urging English farmers to use the machines, especially popular in Australia, which merely comb the ears off. But most American, Canadian, and Australian farmers forget that in this country straw is an almost necessary product. If its cash value is not as high everywhere as it is, say, at Newmarket, for example, the farmer who keeps any stock cannot do without plentiful straw, which goes back on to the land as manure. Recently the discovery of cultures, such as Adco, which can break down straw or any vegetable product without the aid of animals, has added to the value of all sorts of straw.
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