THORNS AND BRIERS
One rough grass field was contained in old days by big hedges that even then had a tendency to stray. They have now almost eaten up the field. The top half is a woodland, not much unlike the experimental wilderness at Rothamsted. Other fields like it which have relapsed to the wild may be seen—to give one particular example, from the Great Northern Railway close to. Sandy. An attempt was being made to save part of the field, which from the distance looked almost like a harvest field ; but the supposed sheaves were many regular heaps, literally, of " thorns and briers," in other words, of dogrose, field rose and May bush. Among what grass remains flourished an inordinate quantity of rest-harrow. It is a lovely papilionaceous plant, but hardly a symbol of high
farming. * * * *
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