JUNE 221 



i/., remains at the Lodge, where it is kept in solitude, a dirty and 

 depressed-looking animal, to consume the cabbage stalks out of 

 the garden. Their food, exclusive of the separated milk, is 

 estimated to have cost 3/., which leaves the net return from the 

 litter at 9/. 17^. dd. If horn and corn showed so fine a profit, 

 farming would be a better business than it is. Pigs chance to be 

 a good market just now, though a little while ago they were not 

 worth breeding. They have fluctuated thus in value several times 

 since I began to farm : when they are dear the supply rushes in 

 from abroad, and everybody breeds them, until they become a 

 drug. When they are cheap, on the other hand, the foreigner 

 ceases to export, and farmers give up breeding them as un- 

 profitable, with the result that scarcity ensues, to be followed in 

 turn by a plethora. 



June 7. — To-day I have been watching chaff being cut with the 

 machine, which is driven by one of the horses, who walks round 

 and round with a melancholy air. For some years we had trouble 

 because we could find no stone or other material that would 

 stand the constant wear of the animal's feet, till at length we hit 

 upon the idea of sinking the butts of the oaks v.-hich were cut down 

 at Bedingham in a circle for it to walk on. This was some winters 

 ago, but as yet these butts show no appreciable damage ; indeed, I 

 fancy that they will last a good deal longer than any of us who set 

 them there. The chaff we are now cutting is two-thirds of vetches 

 from No. 21 field, where there is a very heavy crop of them, and 

 about one-third of hay. This mixture the young cattle in the yards 

 and the other things eat greedily so long as it is fresh, after which 

 they turn from it, so it is well not to cut up too much at a time. 



The steam-sawing has begun. It is a fascinating sight to see 

 the circular saw eat into the trees as they are pushed against it 

 on the smooth iron table. Some people complain that this system 

 of cutting is more wasteful than the old plan of two sawj^ers in a 

 pit, and no doubt the saw itself is thicker and makes more dust. 

 On the other hand, however, bits of timber can be cut with the 



