HIGH-SPEED HARVESTING.
The harvest, now virtually concluded in the south and east, is certainly one of the best in the annals. High praise for it would be that it is as good as last year's. And the harvesting has been quick and easybeyond any in the records. Local papers in Lincolnshire have made much of the progress of a particular field of twelve acres, which was reaped, carried, dried, and threshed one Monday ; and the flour made into cakes, and sold at a local restaurant, on the following Wed- nesday. The achievement may help to focus attention on new farming methods. It has, of course, in the past been held necessary to leave the sheaves in the field for a certain number of days to allow the grain to dry and mature ; and local harvesters have particular beliefs in the efficacy of exact periods for the several species and even varieties of grain. This delay in carrying has its risks and losses. A certain amount is eaten by birds and mammals ; and in bad weather the grain may sprout in the stoop. If it could be omitted the gain would be great.
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