260 



SUMMER 



and bend in one direction almost like an opening fern leaf ; 



or whether they hold their 

 berries, two or three in a 

 panicle, at equal spaces all 

 round the stem. The husk 

 and case of the berry is itself 

 a graceful thing, especially 

 when the black grain peeps 

 out and the hold of the husk 

 grows weak. 



The barleys, of which 

 Norfolk and Somerset are 

 especially proud, have a grace 

 that has appealed much to 

 many artists. The flat barley 

 head with its double row of 

 grains and fine fringing awns 

 appears not seldom in archi- 

 tectural decoration, and is 

 altogether a much more de- 

 corative seed-head than the 

 rough six-rowed barley that 

 is seen here and there in 

 these later days. But a field 

 of oats or a field of barley 

 has no comparison with a 

 field of wheat, and gives 

 small sense of harvest. The 

 winter oats, which readily 

 part with their grain if at 



all overripe, are often 

 PERCIVAL'S 'BLUE CONE' 



cut in July and a sort of 

 harvest begins. But now that horses disappear before 



