io6 A FARMER'S YEAR 



came to the conclusion, and i agreed with him, that rather than 

 run any further risk we had better sell him for whatever he would 

 fetch. Accordingly the butcher from Bungay was sent for, and 

 after some bargaining offered 12/. for him as he stood, that is i/. 

 less than he cost some months ago. So that ox went away, taking 

 his inefficient third stomach with him, if indeed it is his third 

 stomach that is to blame, which I doubt ; and very glad we were to 

 see the last of him. Before he departed Mr. Little made a drawing 

 of him as he stood in a place by himself, a m jlancholy and rather 

 dangerous-looking object, gloomy-eyed and hump-backed, from 

 time to time producing a strange grating noise by grinding his 

 teeth together. My own belief is that the animal has some 

 obstruction fixed in his liver, perhaps a bit of stick or glass which 

 he has picked up in his travels from market to market. However, 

 we shall hear all about it in a day or two. 



In the afternoon, having studied the theory of ploughing, Mr. 

 Little and I proceeded to put it into practice on All Hallows six- 

 acres, No, 29, which was being thwarted for root. Ploughing, I can 

 assure the reader, is one of those things that look a great deal easier 

 than they are, like the writing of romances, which is supposed by 

 the uninstructed to be a facile art. The observer, standing at a gate 

 to watch a man with a pair of horses strolling up and down a field 

 for hours on end, if inexperienced, is apt to conclude that beyond 

 the physical endurance involved the difficulties are small. Let him 

 take the pair of horses, however, and follow this pastoral pursuit 

 for, say, forty minutes, and he will come away with a greatly 

 increased respect for Mr. Hodge. 



To begin with, the settingoutof a field to plough in accordance 

 with the kind of work selected as suitable to the purpose for which 

 it is being cultivated, is by no means an easy matter. (If anyone 

 doubts this statement, let him consult Stephens's diagrams, and try 

 to work them out.) Nor is it easy to keep a perfectly straight 

 line, or, by pressing too much or too little on the plough handles, 

 not to cause undesirable variations of depth in the furrow. But 

 all this is simplicity itself compared to what happens when you 



