JANUARY 47 



as though they had been exposed to the heat of a fire. Now they 

 are being ploughed for oats. 



The ploughman, Peachey, tells me that on this land, where the 

 friction against stones is so constant, the share of the plough (not 

 the breast) only lasts about a week. In heavy land it will last 

 from three weeks to a month. The breast of a plough, or that 

 part of it which turns the furrow, ought to wear from one to two 

 years, according to the nature of the soil. 



To-day two carts are carrying refuse from the undrained 

 town of Bungay to be scattered on that part of the nine acres of 

 land. No. 23, which is coming for root, or on so much of it as we 

 can spare time and horses to cover. We have been at the task 

 for nearly a week, sometimes with two and sometimes with three 

 carts, and, I think, have spread about fifty loads upon the root 

 land. This compost, disagreeable as it is in many ways and mixed 

 with troublesome stuff, such as old tins and broken glass, is the 

 best manure which I have ever used ; but I think that to get its 

 full value it should be spread upon the land and ploughed in 

 at once, leaving it to decompose beneath the surface. I adopted 

 this plan last year on the piece of rootland at All Hallows Farm, 

 No. 33, and with the most excellent results. The field is small, but, 

 notwithstanding the drought, the piece of beet which resulted was 

 the finest that I have yet grown. The cost of this manure is 

 about two shillings the load as it lies upon the heap, and I sup- 

 pose that the carting would come to as much more. Against this 

 expense, however, it must be remembered that it spares the farm- 

 yard, upon which the calls are heavy and continuous ; also for a 

 root crop I would rather use it than any expensive artificial 

 dressing on the market. 



January 2. — To-day being Sunday I have confined my farm- 

 ing operations to looking over the young stock in the yard. One 

 of the calves there is the first-born of a heifer, and therefore 

 doomed to die. Hood, my bailiff, a man of strong opinions, is 

 convinced that it is useless to keep the first calves of heifers. 



