Farnborough Recalled 
ago. Forgotten summers, long-forgotten winter 
mornings, wars one never hears tell of, recurred 
to him. ‘Then it was, for instance, that he told 
how the price of lead rose during the Crimean 
War; for in one of these very waggons pig-lead 
had been brought home from London for his 
father’s pottery in that far time. 
And from these reminiscences his mind, as 
if picturing the heaths the waggons once crossed, 
wandered off to the droves of Welsh cattle and 
to the drovers with their outlandish talk who 
periodically passed over those heaths. He seemed 
to see the roadside ponds again; seemed to 
dream of the fairs the cattle came to, the far-off 
coast they reached at last. 
Gossiping of these old times, we made our way 
back at last towards the farm-house for tea. Yet 
before we got indoors another fillip was given to 
Mr. Smith’s memories by the sight of pigs 
unwontedly roaming about a grass-plot near the 
farm-house. What were they doing there? I 
asked ; and was told that they were a neighbour’s 
pigs, searching for acorns—so abundant that 
autumn. On acorns, Mr. Smith remarked, 
pigs would fatten almost without other food, 
only the diet made their meat “ kernelly.” The 
same food was very bad for cows. It would dry 
up the milk sooner than anything. It was also 
liable to cause stoppage or miscarriage. Inci- 
73 
