444 A FARMER'S YEAR 



it is composed of costly materials and has taken long abaking, is 

 not so very richly gilded. 



Such as it is, however, I am grateful for it, especially as I find- 

 that I have done better than some of my neighbours. In one 

 case, for instance, of a farm a little larger than my own, where- 

 as last year there was a handsome profit, this year it is practically 

 nil, only a small sum being available towards rent and interest. 



It may be asked, then, how I have managed to succeed even 

 to this moderate extent^ — a question which needs some lines to 

 answer. Largely, I think it is owing to the advice and experience 

 of my agent, Mr. Robert Simpson, and to the constant hard 

 work and attention to detail of Hood. Also I may, perhaps, 

 claim as a factor in the result my own interest in the land and the 

 daily thought and care I give to everything that happens in or about 

 these holdings. So much for personal considerations, which, how- 

 ever, would help little were it not for the fact that the soil itself is 

 gathering a better heart, and that my young pastures are beginning 

 to come into value — that, in short, I am reaping the result of the 

 outlay and labour of past years. But it is my belief that without 

 the help of the little flock of ewes all this would have availed 

 nothing. From the beginning I was a constant advocate of trying 

 a few sheep, and ever since those sheep were bought, about three 

 years ago, things have begun to improve. The reason is plain ; 

 comparatively speaking they cost little to keep, for they will devour 

 anything down to thistles or ivy off the trees, and practically much 

 of what they eat would otherwise be wasted. Then they are 

 productive animals, and, as old Tusser says, ' good lamb is v;orth 

 gold.' Lastly, their presence is of extraordinary benefit to the 

 land, especially where young pastures are being built up into 

 sound productive meadows. 



One swallow does not make a summer, and one fairly successful 

 year at farming certainly does not prove that this industry can be 

 made remunerative. Still, it does go to confirm me in the opinion, 

 which I think I expressed in the beginning of this book — that 

 with plenty of capital, inexhaustible patience, a real love of the 



