And East Anglian
Probably the biggest and most enterprising dryingexperiment in the world is now going on in Norfolk on the biggest farm in Britain. This is not so much concerned with drying crops in the field on the model of the Oxford machines of a few years ago ; but every conceivable product from lucerne to onions and potatoes is put through an immense drying plant and robbed of its weight and moisture. One of the dis- coveries, due chiefly to Mr. Procter's enterprise, is that such crops as lucerne, if rapidly dried and reduced to small particles make as good food for birds as for beast ; and poultry are becoming only less important in the economy of many farms than cattle. We all wish to see the small holding multiplied, but there is, at least, this advantage on a farm of 16,000 acres that great experiments can be tried, which in the sequel may benefit all farmers whether small or big. It is germane to this subject that the Danes have created " a new plant, to be tried this year for the first time in Britain. It is a form of rye, that may be described as half-way between the rye that is a grass and the rye that is grown for its grain. It has the bulk of the cereal rye but develops blade rather than ear, and is used wholly as hay.
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