94 A FARMER'S YEAR 



since we had to do with it, the long-continued drought having 

 made it friable and tender, whereas in other Januaries often it is 

 hard with frost or so stiff with wet that, if an attempt is made to 

 stir the soil, it conies up in lumps as large as horses' heads. 



The open season has been very fortunate for me upon this 

 farm, as, owing to the taking over of Baker's, I was obliged to draw 

 a horse from Bedingham, leaving two only, and one of these an 

 old mare in foal. Therefore, had not the weather remained so 

 clement that work could be attended to as it pressed, week in, 

 week out, I might have been fenced to buy another horse, which 

 I do not wish to do, as I have several growing animals in stock. 

 But, however dry the season, water is never far off in these stiff 

 clays. Thus I could see it standing at the bottom of the trenches 

 being cut by the drainers on field No. 18, and especially wherever 

 they chanced to have crossed the line of an old drain and bled it. 

 By the way, it is getting difficult to find enough bushes with 

 which to finish this draining, almost all the suitable stuff having 

 been used. There was plenty of it when I took over this farm, 

 but since then the fences have gone underground. 



To-day I have been making a plan for roofing in the horse 

 and cattle yard at Bedingham with galvanised iron supported by 

 oak posts. If possible, and if it is not too costly, I am anxious to 

 deal thus with all my open yards, as I believe that the expense of 

 closing them in, which, if one can provide the necessary timber, 

 is not so very great, will be repaid in three years by the manure 

 saved and the increase in its fertilising value. I have already 

 three such sheds erected over yards, and there is no comparison 

 between the stuff which comes from beneath them and that from the 

 open pen which is frequently little better than dirty, rain-washed 

 straw. Another thing is that roofed-in yards mean a great saving 

 of the amount of litter used, and consequently less carting both 

 in and out. I doubt but this is, of course, only conjecture, as 

 it is difficult to arrive at the exact quantities whether the beasts 

 in a closed-in yard will make away with much more than half the 

 quantity of straw necessary to the wellbeing of an equal number of 



