FEBRUARY 103 



dressing, I nearly lost two ewes out of my small flock from this 

 cause. One got a sore upon her neck, which it was vain to 

 bandage, for so fast as the cloths were tied on the foolish thing 

 tore them off with her sharp hoofs, with the result that she went 

 about all the summer tormented by black lumps of flies which 

 feasted on her wounds. Another suffered from an abscess 

 behind, produced by flies, the pain of which seemed to drive the 

 poor creature almost mad. I remember that on one occasion she 

 left the flock and returned to the back lawn from nearly a mile 

 away, breaking through the fences in order to get there. Here 

 I found her lying panting on her side. When disturbed, she 

 would stagger to her feet, run a hundred yards or so like a 

 demented thing, and then lie down again. I thought that she must 

 die, but with care she recovered, and, indeed, has recently lambed. 

 In the afternoon I went to Bedingham, where I found the 

 men openmg the water-furrows on field No. 5, which they had 

 drilled with barley yesterday, the seed going in fairly well. To- 

 day nothing has been drilled, as most of the six acres to be sown 

 has proved intractable. Three times did the horses drag the land 

 with the heavy harrows, until they were quite exhausted, indeed ; 

 but the chief result seemed to be that they rolled over the tough 

 clods instead of breaking them. As it chanced, however, about 

 an acre and a half of this field was got up before Christmas and 

 received the benefit of the only frosts that have fallen this 

 season. The results serve to show how necessary is the action of 

 frost to the securing of a good tilth on land of this character, for 

 whereas there was plenty of mould on the acre and a half, the 

 remainder of the piece which had been w etted by the showers was 

 strewn with unbreakable lumps of clay. This acre and a half 

 Moore began to drill late in the evening, just as I was starting 

 home. The rest I told him to leave for the present and to return 

 the drill to Ditchingham early to-morrow. 



February 4. — To-day is much colder, with occasional storms 

 of snow and hail driven by a high nor'-west wnid. As I write, for 



