COUNTRY LIFE
WFILE harvest is in full swing some of the agricultural critics are expressing pleasure that the area under wheat has been reduced. The reduction is considerable, though the amble area is larger. Their rejoicings are due to the belief that it is better business to grow fodder than food in a country that is perfectly adapted for stock. The view is largely the Danish view. This is not the place for a discussion of such farming philosophy ; but a word may be said in favour of wheat, for which many of our farmers still keep a sort of sentimental affection. I have heard a farmer—and a very good one—say : " When I stop growing wheat, I stop farming." Wheat is undoubtedly the king of grains, the eldest child of Ceres. In some respects it delights in the English climate. Though it will not keep like Canadian wheat, which by its dryness is the best both of travellers and keepers yet the yield is immense on any comparison. It will not make so big a loaf as " Manitoba hard," but the savour of a loaf of recently threshed English wheat is vastly superior. The plant stands the winter with almost unvarying success, and the early sowing is of no little advantage in the routine of the farm. How our village people love to see a good field of wheat growing golden as harvest approaches! And it may be that purely aesthetic reasons have helped to make wheat the standard crop of the arable farm. It has happened on occasion that bad unripe wheat has been bought at a higher price by poultry-keepers than good ripe wheat by the millers ; and such occurrences undoubtedly support the view of the votaries of animal husbandry. It seems not improbable that wheat will lose its supremacy in English farming ; but most farmers will surrender it with a sigh. How glorious are some of this year's crops! The sun has not only saved them. It has set a flourish on their quantity.
Previous page
