282 A FARMERS YEAR 



Hallows Farm. Last night he was carried off, and this morning 

 Hood set him at liberty, whereon he departed towards home- 

 literally ventre-a-terre. Apparently, however, he could not find 

 his way there, for afterwards I discovered him in the Home Farm 

 stackyard trying to attract to himself a hen of light and wandering 

 mind. This he did by scratching in the dust and making 

 pretence that he had found something particularly nice to eat. 

 I know that it was a pretence, for from where I stood I could 

 see that there was nothing at all, although he pecked violently and 

 pretended to swallow, calling all the while. Finally the light- 

 minded hen was attracted, and came up to see what could be got, 

 although with doubts, for the lawful rooster, a Dorking, was 

 watching these proceedings from a distance with a threatening 

 and lurid eye. Her disgust when she found that there was 

 naught was very comic, and away she marched. This evening I 

 found that poor divorced cock roosting quite alone in the exact 

 centre of a large hen-house, which the fowls do not use during 

 summer, as they seem to prefer to sleep in the trees. I suppose 

 that sooner or later there will be a battle, but, oddly enough, the 

 game-cock does not seem to seek the encounter. 



To-day two of the little steers at Bedingham were sold to the 

 butcher for 277. the pair. I estimate 'lay ' is the local term 

 their weight when cleaned at about thirty -five stone, but I suppose 

 that the butcher thinks that they will weigh more, as "js. a stone 

 is the average price for prime beef. These young things they 

 are under two years old make the best and most saleable beef, 

 and perhaps for this reason he may be willing to give a little more 

 for them. The day of heavy three- and four-year-old cattle, at 

 any rate in this neighbourhood, is gone by, and as a rule the 

 price they bring does not compensate the grazier for the extra 

 expense of their keep for so long a period of time. 



July 21. To-day Buck has been at work thatching the haystack 

 in the Buildings stackyard, with the assistance of young Fair- 

 head. 



