

SPRING AND SUMMER RAMBLES. 43 



travelled through Surrey and a good part of Hamp- 

 shire and the Isle of Wight, when it was painful to see 

 the brown meadows, and hungering sheep and cattle. 

 My late wanderings have taken me through a large 

 portion of Shropshire and Herefordshire, where the 

 contrast is wonderful. The farms here seem to have 

 suffered very little from the drought. Everywhere 

 crops, grass, and turnips appear to be abundant. 

 Apples and hops abounding. Even on the top of 

 high hills, where I accompanied a farmer, and where 

 naturally, if anywhere, I expected to find the worst 

 effects of the drought, crops of wheat, barley, and 

 oats were splendid. There was one field of oats 

 on the very top of the hill with straw over my head, 

 and so splendidly headed that my friend expects at 

 least seventy bushels to the acre from it. Turnips 

 and mangolds equally prolific. Those who are de- 

 spondent about the harvest may comfort themselves 

 with the expectation that it will not be so disastrous 

 as was once expected, at least, Herefordshire and 

 Shropshire are quite up to the usual average. 



