DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 47 



not been needed by my friend. And last, but by no 

 means least, the growing crops were free of weeds 

 and the fallows clean. 



The farm is an extensive one, with about 200 acres 

 of arable land, rich, deep, and responsive to its treat- 

 ment. It is possible that my friend's good fortune 

 in possessing such fruitful fields is responsible for his 

 pronounced opinion that there is more merit in muck 

 than in science, for he spoke \vith some warmth on 

 the subject : — 



'Our scientific friends who would teach us how to 

 farm have made us think and tallv a bit, but, unfor- 

 tunately, they don't stay long enough on a place to 

 show us that their scientific methods are better than 

 our old-fashioned ways. Going to an Agricultural 

 College they get matured opinions as to the capa- 

 bilities of a farm, by a few experiments, before they 

 are twentv-one, while it has taken us all our lives to 

 learn the temper of our fields. Artificials are all very 

 well as a tonic, but we rely on something more sub- 

 stantial to give us weight and quality at harvest.' 



It is a very rare occurrence to find first-class 

 farming and a good head of game on the same farm, 

 but here we had it, and that the one interfered so 

 little with the other was accounted for by the whole 

 of the one being below a main road and the other all 

 above. 



On the side of the hill is a tliirty-acre oak-studded 

 wood, ^\^th an undergrowth of hazel, bramble, and 

 bracken that has two twenty-acre rough pasture fields 

 next its longest side, over which the birds make their 

 flight to reach the coppice. The furze brake with its 

 grass-grown rides and sunny aspect is a grand holding, 

 and the numerous and lengthy double-crowned hedges 

 are happy hunting-grounds for a gun each side while 

 well-trained Cockers work them. 



The sun had set and it was almost dusk when we 

 reached the river, just to have a peep to help the 



