61 



May was very fine. The winter oats were short in straw and 

 rather backward. The grass also was short. On the other hand, 

 the wheat was looking- well, especially in Little Hoos after clover. 

 Long Hoos wheat also looked much better than last year : there 

 was some charlock in the west end, otherwise the field was toler- 

 ably clean. The root land was still not prepared by the end of May. 

 June was dry, with sunny days but cold nights;, the pastures and 

 meadows seemed unusually thick with buttercups and dandelions, 

 perhaps because the grass was so short; later on thistles gave 

 trouble : temporary grass, on the other hand, was longer and the 

 clover was excellent. The drought cx^ntinued till July 9th, ruin- 

 ing the new sown seeds and also the swedes (which were finally 

 finished off by the " fly "), and making barley very short. On the 

 other hand, the wheat was long in straw (5ft.) so also were the 

 oats. King Edward potatoes suffered. Turnips were sown after 

 the swedes, but failed. 



At the end of July, Harpenden Field was ploughed by Govern- 

 ment tractor and cleaned in preparation for oats. August was 

 beautifully fine, hot and dry, and the harvest came in in record 

 time. Much of the wheat was never stooked but was carried as it 

 lay : some farmers indeed cut and carted on the same day, but we 

 preferred not. September was wetter (4. Sin.) and while this im- 

 proved the mangolds it interfered with the lifting of the potatoes. 



The harvest returns showed that wheat had been unusually 

 good (5 qrs. per acre Red Standard ; 4 qrs. Red Marvel). Potatoes 

 had been only moderate (5 tons), mangolds poor and swedes failed. 



OCTOBER, 1918— SEPTEMBER, 1919. 



On September 29th no less than l.Sin. of rain fell, and this, 

 coming at the end of a spell of wet weather, left the ground very 

 wet. Rain fell almost daily in October and November, although 

 the total was below the average. Its persistence, however, and 

 shortage of labour interfered with ploughing, but, owing to the 

 early harvest, work was fairly forward : by the time the Armistice 

 was signed (Nov. 11th) oats and the first sown wheat were well up. 

 Throughout November and December the weather continued mild 

 and muggy, and the carting of mangolds was wet, dirty work. 

 January was wet, impeding alike the ploughing and threshing; on 

 the 28th came snow, which lay 9^ inches on the ground and then 

 froze : the weather remained cold for some time. Then followed 

 much rain till March 7th. The winter corn suffered and came out 

 a bad colour after the snow, and the wheat contained some grass ; 

 clover, however, was looking well. Long Hoos had been intended 

 for roots, being weedy, but owing to labour shortage half was put 

 Into barley, and our acreage of potatoes w^as cut down from 13 to 4. 



There were frequent frosts in April and on the 29th a snow 

 storm with llin. of snow in the open; this, however, soon went. 

 May was a magnificently fine month, with long sunny days and 

 good dews at night; the total rainfall was only 0.46in. The hot 

 weather continued till the end of June, parching the meadows and 

 greatly retarding the potatoes. Currants, gooseberries and peas 

 were full of blossom. Oats and early sown wheat and Stackyard 

 barley looked well, but the late sown wheat and New Zealand 

 barley were thin and full of thistles. Long Hoos barley was also 

 weedy. July was a bad month ; it was very cold and sunless 



