96 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



thought so highly, that he would have his neigh- 

 bours' cattle into his yards in winter to help in the 

 consumption of his straw for the sake of the digested 

 manure) is much aided and abetted chemically by 

 an accession of imported food. But still even to 

 yield in digested form what they have derived from 

 the surface, improves the heart of the land ; the very 

 wormcast (White's Selborne) is reckoned, "being its 

 excrement, a fine manure for grain and grass." The 

 fact is, there is a law of increase in nature ; sow a 

 fallow with mustard, plough it in, and you will have 

 enriched the land considerably, viz. in the degree that 

 this green crop has imbibed nutritious, that is nitro- 

 genous, matter from the air. The mighty forest 

 sheds its leaves, but to stimulate a new growth of 

 such. It seems, as it were, that Nature has set us 

 farmers a good example in unfolding her reserve fund 

 of Australia, New Zealand, &c, only when we had 

 worked our home resources to the quick, just as the 

 prudent old stager keeps an extra field in hay to be 

 converted into pasture should the next summer turn 

 out dry. 



Sheep fatten more kindly, 'tis said by Buffon, to 

 the sound of music. This concertina theory may do 

 for foreign parts, but will scarcely suit our rustics, 

 I'm afraid, here in England. Still, the temper of the 

 shepherd is of vital importance to the flock-owner. 



It is considered that wool grows faster on sheep 

 well tended within doors. In the islands near 

 Norway, the sheep that are constantly in the field 

 are found larger and better woolled than those 

 within. It is curious that the wild sheep there sleep 



