THROUGH THE CHANGING YEAR 147 



journey through the changing year. It is now 

 time for us to go forward again. There comes 

 a period in summer when the greenness borders 

 on monotony. We are thankful when the hay 

 has been cut in the fields, for then we get a 

 colour-contrast. Not that the leafage ever 

 strikes one note only. There are always 

 differences. But, in full summer, even the 

 variations from the greyish green of the willow 

 to the deeper shades of fir and yew, are not 

 sufficient, amid grass and corn that are still 

 quite green, to produce the harmony that can 

 only come through variations of considerable 

 range. This period does not, however, last 

 long; only long enough indeed to make us 

 just a little eager for the rich beauty of early 

 autumn. Then the corn, either standing, or 

 cut and bound into sheaves, gives abundant 

 contrast, and the richer greens of the time, 

 still, however, wholly green, are the better seen 

 by the help of it. Exquisite variety is given 

 by the lighter gold of such crops as oats or 

 barley, and the deeper gold of wheat ; and the 

 whole is enriched by aid of the poppy and 

 convolvulus growing — not economically per- 

 haps — amid the corn. 



^' 1^ I 



