296 Farming of Leicestershire. 



changing from field to field, has always a sweet pasture, and by 

 doing a little now and a little then, can attain by the beginning of 

 March the same object as the other ; and not only has he his 

 pastures as smooth as a cricket-ground, but finds his " gnawers " 

 actually improved in bodily condition. 



One beast for ten acres suffices for this purpose. 



To keep the pastures clean and sweet, to utilise the whole of 

 the grass, and have it depastured evenly, the dung of the grazing 

 animals is collected and taken off while fresh, and before it has 

 had time to rot the grass, or act banefully as a stimulant. 



An old man or boy with a wheelbarrow gathers it into small 

 heaps, which by carts are conveyed to large ones, and there 

 mixed with a small quantity of soil, ditch-cleanings, or road- 

 scrapings ; and the mixture during the autumn is re-spread on the 

 bare or poor parts of the fields. November is considered the 

 best time to put it on ; harm ensues from deferring until spring, 

 as cattle stubbornly reject the herbage thus produced. 



After midsummer the gathering is supplemented more or 

 less v/ith " knocking ;" that is, the dung, after lying a little to 

 harden, is knocked or spread about. 



This practice of collecting and knocking the dung on the 

 pastures is practised by all, but most assiduously by the best 

 managers. It is an admirable system, and well worth imitation 

 by the occupiers of grass-land in every nook and corner of the 

 country.* 



The thistles are generally spudded or drawn on all good land, 

 and mown occasionally on that of a poorer description : good 

 managers consider the latter as bad and slovenly practice, and 

 much valuable keep is destroyed by it. The thistles are gone 

 over twice in the season. 



With regard to the meadovvs mown for hay, the practice is to 

 mow a field one year and graze it the next. Some manure with 

 the dung collected from the pastures, others use guano, " grass- 

 manure," or lime and soil ; but all these appliances are rather 

 the exception than the rule, and the great majority depend on 

 the year's grazing to restore the fertility impaired by the pre- 

 vious crop of hay — a mistake so obvious as to render argument 

 superfluous. 



In some instances the grass is cut by machine, but the more 

 prevalent practice is to mow by hand. Haymaking-machines 

 and rakes are in common use, but there is little that is peculiar 

 in the process as here carried out. 



Much of the hay is stacked in the fields, the ricks, or locally 



* This practice for many years has been followed on the home farm of H. S. 

 Thompson, Esq., Kirby Hall, Yorkshire, and this is the only instance -ne know of 

 out of Leicestershire. 



