310 A FARMER'S YEAR 



August 19. — To-day I drove with my agent, Mr. Simpson, 

 round some outlying farms belonging to this property. One o( 

 them is being farmed by two maiden ladies of an old-fashioned 

 type. By ' old-fashioned,' however, I mean nothing disparaging, 

 but that, instead of playing the piano and looking genteel in a silk 

 dress and a sham diamond ring, these ladies bake and brew and 

 cook, employing a managing man to see to the stock and field- 

 work. They are types of a class that is fast vanishing from this 

 county, and whom it is well to study while there is yet time. 

 Moreover, they always seem to welcome their landlord when he 

 chances to pass their way, and the land they till is in excellent 

 condition. 



The next farm we visited is that where the old gentleman lived 

 who slept every night of his long life in the same room in which 

 he was born, and died. Since his day, however, there has been 

 another tenant here, and one of not a good stamp. He has 

 departed, leaving the land in a very different condition from that 

 in which he took it, and the place has been re-let to the present 

 holder. The house, where his predecessor lived and died — a low, 

 steep-roofed building, rather long for its size— is in fair order, 

 hut the state of the farm buildings is — or was — fearful. The old 

 gentleman, who had known them from his childhood, did not 

 care to see them interfered with, and the last man was not a 

 person to be encouraged with repairs, but now these have to be 

 faced. This year about 90/. is being spent on the barn, cowshed, 

 and stable, and there remains a good deal more to be done in the 

 future. When finished the buildings will be snug and convenient, 

 being wood-clad with a brick footing ; but the rent of the holding 

 is now only 27/. \os., so that when even the present repairs are 

 paid for no profit will come out of it for more than three years. 

 At this rate it would take a landlord some time to develop into 

 the plutocrat familiar to the mind of the rural agitator. 



After inspecting these repairs we went on to a much larger 

 farm — two hundred acres of land — which for some years past has 

 been bringing in the magnificent revenue of 50/. a year minus 



