124 A FARMER'S YEAR 



MARCH 



March I. — To-day we finished getting in the barley on the 

 All Hallows nine-acres, No. 36. The last of it was drilled in a 

 drizzling rain and under a threatening sky. While the barley was 

 being sown the cultivator got to work upon the eight-acres on 

 Baker's, No. 41, preparing the seed bed ; but so soon as the drill 

 was at liberty a sharp storm of hail and rain came down, making 

 this stiff land too sticky for us to attempt to deal with it. In the 

 afternoon we took refuge in the ordinary bad-weather occupation 

 of carting manure. No. 41 was under root last year, and had 

 been dosed with ' artificial,' as is customary when a crop is 

 being grown which must be taken at a valuation by the landlord 

 or next tenant. In walking over the field I observed little grey 

 patches of this manure still lying undissolved in the soil, a curious 

 illustration of the persistent character of the drought that has pre- 

 vailed since it was scattered u\) to the present time, which has 

 prevented the stuff from melting away and becoming assimilated 

 with the earth. 



March 2. — \Vinter seems to have set in at last, for this morn- 

 ing we have storms of snow and sleet, and can do nothing upon 

 the land except cart from the yards. 



Here I am obliged practically to suspend my diary, as I spent 

 the remainder of March in London. From the farming point 

 of view this is no great loss, however, as throughout the month, to 

 judge by the notes that Mrs. Hood has kindly kept for me, the 

 weather was so bitter and generally bad that vegetation made but 



