388 A FARMER'S YEAR 



other hand, the great carefulness of a loader under confusing circum- 

 stances, when a faulty gun exploded in his hands, once saved me 

 from a terrible accident. No story that I know, however, of the 

 mistakes of loaders can equal that authentic tale told to me by Lord 

 Walsingham, of how, when shootmg with three guns, the trigger of 

 one of them was accidentally pulled while its loaded muzzle pointed 

 at the small of his back. It may be asked how he survived. He 

 survived because out of all the hundreds of cartridges he used that 

 day this particular cartridge alone missed fire ! 



We bagged only one woodcock in Tindale and saw but two. In 

 most seasons this wood is a favourite haunt of these beautiful 

 birds, and I have known as many as eight or ten killed in going 

 through the beats. 



To-day, while we were partridge driving, I picked up on a field 

 a bean seedling, self-sown no doubt, which had been harrowed out 

 in preparing the land for wheat. It is very curious to observe the 

 process of root formation in the bean. First the thick white root 

 pushes from the seed, and then out of it and not from the bean 

 itself, indeed about an eighth of an inch below it, starts the vigor- 

 ous upward growth which develops into the plant. Although in 

 this particular instance seedling and root were each about four 

 inches long, the parent bean remained quite sound and unaltered 

 in flavour. 



I noticed that on the light lands the rabbits have done a good 

 deal of mischief this year. They are numerous this season, and I 

 suppose that the drought made them crave anything with a juicy 

 substance. Talking of rabbits reminds me of an alarmingtale which 

 a friend who is staying here told me yesterday. A few weeks ago 

 his brother, while riding a bicycle, was seized with the most fright- 

 ful anguish in the region of the heart. He managed, however, to 

 stagger to his home and send for a doctor. The seizure proved 

 to be the beginning of an attack of aiigina pectoris, so severe that 

 it nearly killed him. ^^'hen he was better he went with all pre- 

 cautions to London to interview a specialist, who, to his enormous 

 relief, for he thought himself a doomed man, told him tliat his 



