BEDINGHAM, DITCHINGHAM & THE FARMS n 



rickety ledge or two, and a broken back leaning against a post so 

 rotten that a strong man could push it over, or, rather, break it just 

 where it enters the ground. Here it is that a post gets the ' wets 

 and drys,' and here the best of them go in time. Even if a tenant 

 is bound by lease to leave the gates in good repair the casfe is 

 much the same. This was so at Bedingham, and I remember when 

 it came ' in hand ' seeing a carpenter engaged in tinkering at the 

 gates. Yet since I have had it I have been obliged to renew some 

 of them altogether, and many others are worn out. Another thing 

 much neglected by most tenants of late years is the periodical 

 ' fying,' or cleaning out of pit-holes, and even of large ditches. If 

 the pits are not cleaned animals feeding in the fields are liable to 

 get ' laid,' or bogged, but their owners take the risk of that rather 

 than go to the expense of fying, although in truth the mud thrown 

 from the ponds almost repays this cost, since it is most valuable for 

 the refreshing of pastures. Again, if the ditches are neglected on 

 heavy land, the mouths of the drains get blocked and the soil 

 becomes sour and sodden with water, after which its owner will 

 soon hear that ' the mucky old land won't grow northin' at all, not 

 enough to feed a cow on ten acres of it,' or something equally 

 depressing. Since I took over the Moat Farm in 1894 I have 

 ' fyed ' every pond upon it. Out of one of them, that in front of 

 the homestead, there were drawn more than two hundred loads of 

 mud. According to the testimony of the ' oldest inhabitant ' it had 

 not been touched for over fifty years. 



Still, on the whole, the Bedingham farm was not in such bad 

 order when I took charge of it, as may be judged by the fact that 

 one field proved clean enough to lay down in pasture. It used to 

 be very well farmed by a worthy man who understood heavy soil. 

 He died of consumption ; and, after his death, his executors carried 

 on his business, but the land was not quite so well done by. Still, 

 if judged by the state of the larger farm at Ditchingham, of which 

 I shall have to speak presently, its condition was good a com- 

 parative term, however. 



The Moat Farm, as may be seen from the map upon the 



