402 A FARMER'S YEAR 



seems to be a perquisite of the road-scraping men, at any rate when 

 it is collected in the streets of the village, as we buy it from them 

 at eighteenpence the load. If, on the other hand, it is laid up 

 against the banks it belongs to the owner of the adjacent soil. 

 Road-grit, containing as it does all manner of finely pulverised 

 refuse, is very valuable as a dressing for pasture land. Also it can 

 be put to good advantage by using it in the holes where young 

 apple-trees are being planted, especially if the soil beneath is clay, 

 as the roots find it very ' kind ' to work in. 



The score or so of lambs which, with the help of a little cake, 

 have been fatting on this pasture, No. 10, are now all sold to the 

 butcher, as we have come to the conclusion that the cross with 

 the Southdown produces an animal too small to breed from. The 

 largest of them fetched thirty-eight shillings, and the smaller, 

 which are pure Southdown, thirty shillings. It is not a very high 

 price, but on the whole we are well rid of them. 



November 24. Yesterday and the day before the weather was 

 a good deal colder, but this morning it is rough and mild. Two 

 ploughs are going on the farm, while the carrot-lifting and the 

 earthing up of the beet still continue. 



At the Bench to-day we had our first experience of the new 

 Criminal Evidence Act, of the provisions of which the defendant 

 elected to avail himself in each case, with the result that one and 

 all they proceeded to give themselves gracefully away. I have seen 

 this Act a good deal criticised, but my own opinion, for what it is 

 worth, is that it will prove a very useful measure, and ensure the 

 conviction of a great many guilty people who would otherwise have 

 b^en acquitted, and the escape, or, at any rate, the complete clear- 

 ing of the characters, of some innocent people who might otherwise 

 have been left under a cloud of suspicion. Few accused persons, 

 at least among the classes with which magistrates have to deal, 

 will ; I believe, be able to resist the temptation of going into the 

 box and giving evidence on oath, however guilty they may know 

 themselves to be. Once there the result is sure, for my experience 



