Amateur Fanning. 343 



only an Englishman, but the very essence of a country 

 gentleman. As far as he could turn Windsor Castle into a 

 huge farmhouse, and its grounds into an agricultural hold- 

 ing, he did. Thackeray tells us how all the royal princes ran 

 away from the dull routine of the Windsor life, with its early 

 rising and early bed-going, its frugal meals and fixed rules. 

 Farmer George was never so happy as when engaged in a 

 technical discussion with an agricultural neighbour, sitting 

 in his carriage with one of Young's works on his knees, or 

 superintending the management of his stall-fed oxen on the 

 Home Farm. He was just practical enough to attract the 

 duller minds of the Tory squires, but too dense and obstinate 

 to be popular with the statesmen, and too wanting in refine- 

 ment to engage the respect of the aristocratic Whigs. 



When on the death of its Ranger, the Duke of Cumberland, 

 the great park of Windsor reverted to the King, it consisted of 

 about 3,800 acres ; of which about 200 were covered with water, 

 200 were planted, 300 were meadow, 200 arable land, and the 

 remainder park. It was in a sad condition of neglect, consist- 

 ing principally of rushy swamp and impoverished turf. There 

 were besides a couple of hundred acres of detached arable land, 

 so scattered that occasionally a mile or two intervened between 

 two lots. There were bogs and marshes, in many cases danger- 

 ous to cross ; and the common feature of the whole was poverty, 

 a description which may include some 3,000 ill-conditioned 

 deer starving on its pasturage. 



King George set to work like a new broom. He drained, he 

 rolled, he mowed, he harrowed, and he scarified. By one or 

 other of these means he weakened the rushes, extirpated the 

 moss, cleared off the ant-hills, and kept down the fern. Then 

 he redoubled his efforts and re-arrauged the whole place. He 

 laid down unsuitable arable soil with grass seed, and he 

 ploughed up bad turf for purposes of agriculture. He filled 

 up pits, opened and smoothed valleys, ornamented hills with 

 new plantations, and broke the vestiges of former hedgerows 

 by judiciously planting single clumps of trees. 



When all his improvements were completed, the sweet 

 pasturage of the park proper was hardly recognisable under its 



