126 My Little Farm 



Houses, but renewed more often in the Lower. 

 The bed is 18 inches to 2 feet deep, of " turf," that 

 is, dried peat, in pieces about the size of bricks ; 

 over these, a thinner layer of the same stuff, 

 broken fine. The " white " turf is best, and it is 

 nearest the top of the bog. The liquids go down, 

 as into a dry sponge, and a bed like this will absorb 

 them all from a dozen of the Lords for six months. 

 The solids, remaining on the surface, are removed 

 daily. There is no waste, and never a smell. 

 Towards the end, the bed is dug over, bringing 

 the driest again to the top. The House is emptied 

 twice a year (once during the long vacation). The 

 stuff seems good to grow anything. The 

 saving in labour is great, and the House is always 

 clean. Everybody admires the arrangement, but 

 nobody adopts it. The peat is abundant, and 

 costs next to nothing, but it has to be dried and 

 housed at that time of the year when it is most 

 pleasant to lie down and bask in the sun. How 

 did this Oriental indifference to needs and seasons 

 reach Ireland, in the blood of the race or in the 

 making of the mind ? Some say it is the climate, 

 but the whole Empire has no more strenuously 

 efficient life than we find in one part of our island. 

 From May to September, every member of 

 either House over a fortnight old is out all night 

 and in, on vetches, during the heat of the day, 

 away from the flies, so that we escape warbles in 

 the first year, when the young skin is most attrac- 

 tive to them. From September to May, all are 

 out in the day and in at night. The only excep- 



