312 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Salisbury Plain Strange Desert Character of the Scenery The Agricul- 

 ture Sainfoin and Lucerne Large Farms Effect on Laborers Par- 

 ing and Burning When Expedient Expense Sheep-Folding Move- 

 able Railways and Sheds. 



June \lth. 



" O TANDIXG across the downs : course E. by N., muggy 

 ^ weather and light airs," regularly at sea, without chart 

 or compass. A strange, weary waste of elevated lund, undulating 

 like a prairie, sparsely greened over its gray surface with short 

 grass; uninhabited and treeless; only, at some miles asunder, 

 broken by charming vales of rich meadows and clusters of farm- 

 houses and shepherds' cottages, darkly bowered about with the 

 concentrated foliage of the whole country. 



For long intervals we were entirely out of sight of tree or 

 house or man, or even sign of man, more than an indistinct cart- 

 track or trail. Had you any idea there was such a desert in 

 England ? 



The trails run crookedly, divide and cross frequently, and but 

 rarely is there a rude guide-post. Twice or thrice we were as 

 completely lost as Oregon emigrants might be in the wilderness, 

 and walked for miles with only the dim, yellowish spot that stood 

 for the sun in the misty firmament, to be guided by. Large 

 flocks, with shepherds and dogs, we sometimes saw, and here 



