2 SEPTEMBER 1955, Page 28

HARVEST PLAITS

One of the pleasures of harvest used to be when the binder came to the last two or three cuts of corn. An army gathered with guns and sticks to deal with the rabbits, and there was even more excitement when it came to the final cut in the last field, for the last few stalks of corn were coveted material for a harvest plait, used to decorate the forehead of a favourite horse or hung in a place of honour in the farmhouse. This year, with the rabbits almost completely eliminated in most places, there has hardly been an excuse for a gun in the harvest field, and I fancy that the making of harvest plaits has been a dying art since the tractor came, if not before. Some plaits were most intricate and clever pieces of work.