62 



and towards the end the corn showed signs of lodging, although 

 there was no great length of straw. The local term for the condi- 

 tion of the wheat and barley was " scraw^ly," i.e., many individual 

 straws lodged, though the bulk stood : this is a common result of 

 thin or uneven growth. The winter oats only were actually 

 " lodged." The roots showed signs of picking up, but the second 

 cut of clover was disappointing. The early part of August was 

 hot ; harvest began well, and ahhough crops were light they were 

 ijuickly brought in on our farm (though many others were less 

 fortunate). Ha\ ing now* our own tractor, we pushed on well with 

 the ploughing immediately the corn was cut; by September 8th we 

 had ploughed Harpenden, Sawpit, Foster's, West Barnfield and 

 part of Broadbalk fields. August and September were delightful 

 months. A spell of wet weather lasting from August 25th to Sept. 

 5th rather delayed the carting, but it facilitated cultivation, clean- 

 ing and early souring. Owing to the spring drought much of the 

 seeds failed : onl}- the clover sown in spring wheat in Great Knott 

 Field survixed. This was a great season for Daddy Longlegs. 

 The differences on the experimental mangold plots showed up very 

 well this year, though the yields were distinctly poor. When th»^ 

 corn was threshed out the yields were not unsatisfactory. Many 

 farmers in the locality estimated their yields at 20 bush, of wheat, 

 22 of barley and 26 of oats only ; ours were 34 bush, of wheat in 

 two cases, but 20 only in the third. Oats, following clover, yielded 

 62 bushels. Potatoes improved considerably during the later part 

 of the season, but finally yielded only 5i tons per acre. Taking it 

 altogether the season was a bad one and il ended bndly : hay nnd 

 roots had both proved disappointing. 



OCTOBER, 1919— SEPTEMBER, 1920. 



This season began in the extraordinary position that much of 

 the ploughing was already nearly completed, consequently 

 cross-ploughing and cultivations were carried out. The weather 

 was remarkably suitable for cultivations : throughout October it 

 was sunny by day and frosty by night, and the rainfall was only 

 l.Oin. instead of 3.2in., the average. During the war years the 

 fields had become foul : during this autumn we did much cleaning. 

 On October 20th, Great Harpenden was drilled easily in spite of 

 the drought : on October 23rd, New Zealand was drilled, but with 

 more difficulty, the clods being not \\e\\ broken. On October 24th, 

 how^ever, rain came, Stackyard and Broadbalk were, therefore, 

 drilled easily. The oats in Sawpit were looking well, but nothing 

 was yet showing in \\'est Barnfield. By October 31st we had 

 sown all our winter corn, excepting only 8 acres after mangolds 

 and roots not yet lifted. The autumn tints were remarkably fine : 

 this w^as popularly attributed to the dryness. No\ember was very 

 cold : the first snow came on the 11th. 



In spite of the early sowing the wheat was late in starting, 

 and it did not show in Harpenden Field till No\ember 24th, a 

 month after seeding : New Zealand, Stackyard and Broadbalk 

 were not yet showing. December was milder and wet (5.3in. 

 instead of 2.5in.), and it was not till the 18th that the bullocks were 

 taken in : January was somewhat mild, the winter corn had 

 strengthened considerably but was not too forward ; February was 

 also mild and March had some \erv warm davs. Februar\- wns 



