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JOY IN HARVEST 



WHEN harvest falls or is ready to fall the whole country, the 

 scenery as well as the plants, seems to stop growing the 

 tide no longer rises. The dapper squares and rectangles 

 into which much of England is divided might be so many 

 docks, full or empty, as the tide is let in or out. In January 

 the floor of the dock is covered with a green weed that has 

 changed little in appearance, except to thicken somewhat, 

 since November. As the suns lengthen the green grows 

 and deepens; the tints are bluer and whiter. In place of 

 weed there is shallow water in the dock. By the end of 

 July as much water has been let in as the dock will hold. 

 It is up to the edge. The corn almost makes the enclos- 

 ing rim of the hedgerow to disappear. What were ridges, 

 making each field into a pool, are lines almost flush with the 

 inner square, and contiguous fields may seem a plain. In 

 the fen country, where perhaps harvest is most splendid, for 

 the crops are heavier and the spaces wider, the lines of 

 division, being not ridges but indentations, disappear quite. 

 Where the dikes are you see no more than a shadowy dip, 



