WESTERN EUROPE: Harvest Home

From the Baltic to the Mediterranean, from the Shannon to the Elbe, tractors, horse teams and the work-blackened fingers of peasant women were gathering in ,what looked like the biggest harvest since World War II. French hillsides teemed with blue and green grapes that sent the price of wine toppling. In Germany, cattle and hogs were plump and plentiful; in Scandinavia, furrows bulged with a splendid crop of potatoes. Everywhere, except in Switzerland, where the spring frosts were harsh, Western Europe’s harvest waxed fat and mellow, promising its people that next winter none need starve.

Across the narrow seas, Britain’s urban millions still bought half their food overseas. Yet austerity, the hated catchword of seven lean years (1945-52), is all but disappearing. Britons once again are eating roasts (and carrots) for Sunday dinner. Tea was de-rationed last October; candy, eggs and cream followed this summer. Sugar will be freed next month, and after Aug. 29, bakers will be able to sell white bread for the first time since 1942.