28 SEPTEMBER 1985, Page 24

Farmer-bashing

Sir: Could Mrs Jean Hayes (`Alien corn', 14 September) please be given some simple facts? All wheat, when ripe, bends over at the head: furthermore, after rain (and there was some!) sunshine causes the `poppings, and cracklings' of Mrs Hayes's tale, and are quite normal drying-out sounds! The 'gently waving straight speci- mens' of her recollections were probably rye, or wheat grown for thatching straw. Perhaps Mrs Hayes is very old?

I could go on — the 'parallel marks.. . crushing the ripe grain' were, in fact, gaps established at seed time, to avoid over- spray. She should get together with others who enjoy a bit of farmer-bashing -- but first get her knowledge up-to-date.

E. E. Proctor

Wykeham, Spalding, Lincolnshire