COUNTRY LIFE Bumper Wheat
Within sight of my windows a glorious field of white wheat was cut and carried in early August,. and the ploughing of the stubble completed on the last day of August. This latest operation would have been accomplished yet earlier if the ground had been softened earlier. All this prompt work is to the credit of a working farmer who has no tractor on his 180 acres and employs comparatively few hired workers. Both men and horses may well be proud of themselves. The most highly mechanized farms are hardly further in front of their work," though almost all are early. The number of harvester-threshers—those costly and magnificent monstrosi- ties—continues to grow on English farms ; and this year was ideal for their use, since the grain was dry enough at cutting time to thresh readily ; and in some districts artificial drying, which is the chief trouble, was considered unnecessary. Will the monsters do as well in a wet year ? Their votaries say " Yes " ; and they can justly claim that the subsequent drying processes have been vastly improved, both in efficiency and ease of control.
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