DECEMBER 421 



which we have to deal at Bedingham. And yet, with deference, 

 I, and not my critic, am right. A neighbour who owns some still 

 heavier land, within the last few years spent a large sum of money 

 in pipe-draining it in the best possible manner. About a week 

 ago, however, he told me he believed that this tenacious clay had 

 caked down so hard above and around the pipes that the storm 

 water, instead of running through them, hangs about on the almost 

 impermeable surface. I think that few very heavy land farmers in 

 our part of the country would go to the expense of using pipes 

 upon such soil. After all, the experience of generations generally 

 tells us what is the best and most effective method of dealing with 

 any particular class of land. 



December 12. Both yesterday and to-day the weather has re- 

 mained of extraordinary mildness. Roses are still in bloom, and 

 I hear that a plateful of ripe raspberries have been gathered in the 

 Lodge garden. But as this state of things can scarcely be expected 

 to continue indefinitely, we are getting off the swedes as fast as we 

 can and carting them straight into the sheds. Usually, we hale up 

 swedes, but this year, owing to the shortness of the crop, we have 

 been saved that labour. Oddly enough, those that we are carting 

 to-day off the light glebe land, where one might have expected that 

 the drought would hit them hardest, are the best which we have 

 grown this season. 



About a week ago, in the remarks that I made at Norwich, I 

 said incautiously that although I had been looking for a long while, 

 I was quite unable to find a young and skilled farm-labourer to 

 take into my employ. This statement seems to have been re- 

 ported throughout England, with the result that post by post appli- 

 cations pour in from gentlemen who appear to desire a place as 

 bailiff. Alas ! I can assure them that were any person with land 

 on hand merely to whisper that he wanted a farm-steward, next 

 morning he would probably find his bag crowded with letters, and 

 very possibly several applicants awaiting him in the garden. 

 There are but too many unfortunate farmers who, having 



