21 JULY 1939, Page 18

In the long list of harvests that are good, not

to say bumper, there is one exception: the bees have not enjoyed recent weather. The honey-flow about apple-blossom time was rich and the hives (weighed daily in one apiary at least) grew heavier day by day. Then colder and wetter days succeeded ; and the bees, defying all the laws, began to consume the honey they had collected. Bee-keepers who had postponed for a little while the ingathering of the harvest opened the roofs to discover that there was none left. One may hope that this is no omen of the wheat harvest, which never showed more promise. Will it " pan out " according to estimate?