264 A FARMER'S YEAR 



for we have no cutting machine and no horse-tosser. This is the 

 routine. The men, three of them, mow till breakfast-time, or 

 perhaps till dinner, then, if the weather is fine, they turn the hay 

 cut two days or so before, and, if necessary, cock it, in the after- 

 noon carting such of the stuff as may be ready. It is a somewhat 

 slow process, but while the ' make ' is good it answers well enough. 

 There is no doubt, however, that even in a small holding farmers 

 who possess modern machines have a great advantage over their 

 poorer neighbours. Without them the time of the entire force 

 on the farm is occupied with the hay and other absolutely neces- 

 sary tasks, such as the feeding of the stock. With them a man 

 can generally be spared to attend to other matters which, at this 

 time of the year, are apt to press ; for instance, horse-hoeing, 

 cutting out, or singling in the root fields, where, as always, the 

 weeds grow apace. 



I find that there are disadvantages in planting kohl-rabi near 

 a wood, as it appears to be a plant for which pigeons show a 

 very particular affection ; at any rate, they have devoured a 

 great number of the leaves. It is said that ' mawkins,' or scare- 

 crows, have no terrors for these bold bad birds, and as labourers 

 for the most part have neither the skill nor the time to go a- 

 shooting, the ' dows ' work their will unmolested. 



This evening I was a witness of a singular and expensive 

 exhibition of temper on the part of a young pony which I have 

 bred, the progeny of, I think, a little Russian mare and a high- 

 stepping hackney cob. This animal has been broken, and for a 

 few weeks driven regularly, though I fear not far enough. To- 

 night the groom put it in the cart with the assistance of another 

 man, but instead of starting as usual, the pony reared up four or 

 five times straight on end ; so high, indeed, that I feared he 

 would fall backwards. Finding that he could do nothing in this 

 fashion, after a peculiarly perpendicular rear the wicked little 

 beast, whilst still in the air, deliberately doubled his front legs 

 under him and hurled himself down on to the ground, which he 

 did not even touch with his fore feet. One of the men was 



