TOPPING AND [Chap. 



and blades is that of giving them as food to 

 horses, or to milch cows, towards and in the 

 spring of the year, March, April, and the former 

 part of May. They are also given to sheep in 

 the winter; and particularly to ewes that have 

 lambs. To a horse a bundle is given in the rack ; 

 to a cow in her crib ; and to sheep in little 

 racks, or in something that prevents them from 

 treading them about. All these animals will eat 

 them up clean, even to the stoutest part of the 

 tops. There is so much of sweetness in every 

 part of the plant, that all animals are fond of it. 

 Notwithstanding all the disadvantages above enu- 

 merated, in the case of my tops of this year, I 

 should have had the greater part of them in very 

 fair order, had it not been for my expedition to 

 Penenden Heath ! There were then two days, 

 which, if I had been at home, would have brought 

 a large part of them into the stack in passable 

 condition. But the ecstatic delight of hearing 

 Mr. Shiel, at perceiving and having ocular and 

 auricular demonstration of the surprising fact, 

 that a man can be heard, in a north-west direc- 

 tion, to the distance, in a straight line, of more 

 than thirty miles, while the same words coming 

 from the same lips (or words said to be the same), 

 cannot be heard at more than about thirty inches 

 towards the south-east ; the delight arising from 

 this discovery was not, and is not, for a moment, 



