... While farmers in the south by the end of August were gazing with some complacency at fields already ploughed after corn, many of their brethren in the north were looking in despair at fields of oats beaten into pools of water. This picture of floods is from Lyth, West morland, where the oat crops have indeed been in a sad mess. Rain there fell on 24 days in August. Below is a happier scene ...

... TURF Headquarters recently held a show the first of its kind in aid of the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund, and collected £200 towards an institution especially dear to Newmarket people. There were fourteen classes and competitions, the strongest of which was the children's pony class, with thirty entries. The Newmarket Heath Hack Class attracted twenty-seven entries. Lord Derby, who presented a cup ...

... (ytts Prospects of an Historic St. Leger Miss Paget's Great Year THE two-day Newmarket September Meet ing opens on the July Course at noon to-day, and will conclude to-morrow, when the Cheveley Park Stakes and New St. Leger Stakes will be decided. There are 15 acceptances for the St. Leger, including the Derby winner, Straight Deal, the 2,000 Guineas winner, Kingsway, the One Thousand winner, ...

... AT the request of the British Council, the University of Reading recently held a week-end course for members of the U.S. Forces who were put up at the University residences. The visitors represented seventeen States, and were either graduates in agriculture or connected with the farming industry. The course, which was under the direction of Mr. J. S. L. Waldie of the Faculty of Agriculture and ...

... fiy Our Horticultural Correspondent FRUIT trees deserve all the attention that can be given them in autumn. After producing the heavy crops, which appear to be general throughout the country, many trees are more or less exhausted and they will now need a helping hand to give them a chance of repeating in future years this season's satisfactory performance. Much advice is given about gathering ...

... A CHEERFUL notice reaches us from an unofficial, but unimpeachable, source, seven days after Italy's capitulation. The Treasury, it states, will only with the greatest reluctance release more money to help either growers or distributors of food. The Ministry of Labour has decided that war time agriculture must be content with its present labour force, and cannot be expanded. Machinery and ...

... I 'HE Sussex Herd Book Society's Autumn Show and Sale at Haywards Heath on August 27 is an important item in the local calendar, and is becoming increasingly important in wartime. The Sussex, one of the oldest, largest and heaviest of British breeds, has been developed as a beef animal from its original functions. In the old days the ox was worked in the fields until reaching its prime, when ...

... IN spite of the acute shortage of all grades of labour, hop-growers have been able to start the season with some of the old hands who never miss September in the gardens, and the aid of school children and voluntary helpers who have come down to assist with the work. Hop-picking is always regarded as a sociable out-of-door occupation combined with the pleasures of a lengthy and enjoyable ...

... THE honey-bee is an important unit in the production of the fruit and seed crops of the world, and in this country the pollination of our apples, plums and soft fruit is effected by honey-bees, bumble-bees and solitary wild bees of one sort or another, In many districts, the honey-bees do a greater part of this work than all of the other bees put together, and if bee-keeping were to suffer any ...

... Mountain Farming Cultivation and Re-seeding in Montgomeryshire MONTGOMERYSHIRE War Agricultural Committee, in the Spring of 1940, adopted a policy of cultivating upland areas, chiefly for potato grow ing. Much of the land was sub sequently re-seeded and now desolate mountains are being grazed by more livestock than ever before. On either side of the old Roman Road, which crosses the hill from ...

... SIR JOHN BUCHANAN JARDINE, Bart., of Castle Milk, and Colonel Walter Elliot, M.P., were among well-known buyers at the Lockerbie annual sale, when some brisk business took place. Sir John paid £400 a record for the centre for a fine cheviot ram from the Nether Cassock flock, and Colonel Elliot gave £130 for another. Sir John also paid £48 for a Border Leicester ram from the Tundergarth Mains ...

... Founded by Mrs. James Corrigan, the well- known American hostess, the Wings Club held its opening dance in Grosvenor Place not long ago. The Club is intended for the use of all British, Dominion, Colonial and Allied officers serving in or with the R.A.F., and its member ship is free. The Duchess of Kent is Patron of the Club, Mrs. Corrigan its chairman, and members of the committee include the ...