386 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



that I had not been strong enough to live down to 

 my own theory in this matter, for in my judgment 

 the wheat would not be ready for the binder full 

 ten days and their complement of treacherous 

 nights. 



I found that only two degrees had been registered 

 at the experimental farm and at South Qu'Appelle. 

 All the grain crops at the farm were harvest-ripe, 

 and there was not the slightest fear of injury. I 

 drove home determined to hope for the best. 



The rain of August 12 brought more rain, 

 but the sun was on the side of the wheat and 

 shone with all its glorious might between the 

 storms, and the green wheat-fields quickly turned to 

 gold. The summer-fallow crop is usually the last to 

 ripen, and therefore the newly broken frill of my 

 summer-fallow patch led me to believe that it was 

 ripe before the entire field was ready. My old 

 neighbour John McLeay warned me against cutting 

 too early. A well-known scientific farmer wrote a 

 special article to the Manitoba Free Press urging the 

 farmer to wait the full time in spite of the frost 

 scare. Generally speaking, he considered the crop 

 was sufficiently advanced to hold its own. He argued 

 that if cut on the green side the grain was sure to 

 shrink, and he maintained that in its very near 

 degree towards maturity, loss on weight would 

 exceed loss on grade, and injure the harvest more 

 deeply than even a touch of frost. 



On Sunday Roddy McMahon came along with 

 the news that David Chambers had decided not to 

 waste binder-twine nor harvest labour on his 

 biggest field of wheat. 



" The frost cut right up through Springbrook, 



