282 A FARMER'S YEAR 



Hallows Farm. Last night he was carried off, and this morning 

 Hood set him at liberty, whereon he departed towards home 

 literally ventre-a-terre. Apparently, however, he could not find 

 his way there, for afterwards I discovered him in the Home Farm 

 stackyard trying to attract to himself a hen of light and wandering 

 mind. This he did by scratching in the dust and making 

 pretence that he had found something particularly nice to eat. 

 I know that it was a pretence, for from where I stood I could 

 see that there was nothing at all, although he pecked violently and 

 pretended to swallow, calling all the while. Finally the light- 

 minded hen was attracted, and came up to see what could be got, 

 although with doubts, for the lawful rooster, a Dorking, was 

 watching these proceedings from a distance with a threatening 

 and lurid eye. Her disgust when she found that there was 

 naught was very comic, and away she marched. This evening I 

 found that poor divorced cock roosting quite alone in the exact 

 centre of a large hen-house, which the fowls do not use during 

 summer, as they seem to prefer to sleep in the trees. I suppose 

 that sooner or later there will be a battle, but, oddly enough, the 

 game-cock does not seem to seek the encounter. 



To-day two of the little steers at Bedingham were sold to the 

 butcher for 27/. the pair. I estimate — 'lay ' is the local term — 

 their weight when cleaned at about thirty-five stone, but I suppose 

 that the butcher thinks that they will weigh more, as 7^". a stone 

 is the average price for prime beef. These young things — they 

 are under two years old — make the best and most saleable beef, 

 and perhaps for this reason he may be willing to give a little more 

 for them. The day of heavy three- and four-year-old cattle, at 

 any rate in this neighbourhood, is gone by, and as a rule the 

 price they bring does not compensate the grazier for the extra 

 expense of their keep for so long a period of time. 



July 21. — To-day Buck has been at work thatching the haystack 

 in the Buildings stackyard, with the assistance of young J'"air- 

 head. 



