_Burning the Bush._--While in Herefordshire last spring, I noticed a
singular custom in the agricultural districts. When the wheat is just
springing out of the ground, the farmer's servants rise before daybreak,
and cut a branch of thorn of a particular kind. They then make a large
fire in the field, in which they burn a portion of it; the remaining
part is afterwards hung up in the house. They do this to prevent the
smut, or mildew, affecting the wheat.