AUGUST 317 



gnats may be observed to form a pillar over a man's head, above 

 which they rise and descend as the fancy takes them, or in ac- 

 cordance with aims and arrangements that we do not understand. 

 It is, I think, this rise and fall of their multitudes that produces 

 such very curious variations in the noise of the humming, which now 

 sounds quite loud and angry, and now seems faint and far away. 



August 27. All this week we have been very busy with the 

 ordinary routine of harvest work, which has gone on without 

 interruption from the weather. On Wednesday the 24th we 

 finished carting the All Hallows pease, and carried the Baker's 

 pease into Baker's yard, in each case topping the sacks with oats. 

 On Thursday morning, strangely enough, there was a slight frost, 

 and the men engaged in mowing that portion of the wheat on the 

 All Hallows field, No. 32, which is too laid to be cut by the 

 machine were quite drenched by the dew. Afterwards we carted 

 barley from the Thwaite field, which seems to be a fair sample, 

 and a bulkier crop than I expected. 



Yesterday was fine, though cloudy, with a dropping glass, but 

 to-day the weather holds. I went to lunch with my friend and 

 neighbour, Mr. Henry Smith of Ellingham, and looked over his 

 farm, which is a large one, for he has about eight hundred acres in 

 hand. There are points in favour of farming on a large scale ; for 

 instance, Mr. Smith has his own steam-engine, and thus saves the 

 cost of thrashing. Also, he is able to cut chaff and saw timber 

 with economy and despatch. Mr. Smith is a believer in sheep, 

 and owns two fine flocks of ewes, which are folded about the lands, 

 thus saving the muck-cart many a journey. But with all these 

 advantages, including those which cannot quite be estimated of 

 his personal intelligence, experience, and supervision, he confided 

 to me that, so far, he has not found farming an absolute Klondyke. 

 More, he produced his books to prove it, and very clear they are, 

 being kept upon a most excellent system. He has thrashed a 

 little wheat, coming off some rather light, sheep-tethered land, and 

 it runs out at ten coombs the acre ; a result with which he has 



