BAD CUSTOM IN FARMING. 49 



or some grain crop : this affords no great supply to 

 ploughed land, and is very injurious to their graz- 

 ing grounds ; but the answer generally is, " that 

 the corn must have manure, and the beast can take 

 care of itself; 1 ' and in many cases, I fear, from the 

 starved appearance of the young cattle, that their 

 best endeavours have afforded a very inadequate 

 supply. 



This picking of the field was formerly very ge- 

 nerally resorted to in the midland counties ; but the 

 farmers at that time had a sufficient excuse in the 

 scarcity of common fuel. The droppings of the 

 cows were collected in heaps, and beaten into a 

 mass with water; then pressed by the feet into 

 moulds like bricks, by regular professional persons, 

 called clatters (dodders) ; then dried in the sun, 

 and stacked like peat, and a dry March for the 

 clat-harvest was considered as very desirable. 

 These answered very well for heating water for the 

 dairy and uses of the farm back-kitchen, giving a 

 steady, dull heat, without flame ; but navigable 

 canals, and other conveniences of a similar nature, 

 have rendered the practice now unnecessary. With 

 us this bad custom is declining, and probably in 

 time will cease altogether. 



