GOOD FARMING 223 



The Mangel and Swedes had been cut out, and, grow- 

 ing on ridges, more than common care had been 

 bestowed, one would suppose, to give the plant a healthy 

 and vigorous appearance — while the fallows were as clean 

 as j)lough and harrow — men, women, boys — could make 

 them. At the finish I remember, when we had made the 

 tour of the farm — over five hundred acres — as we sat on 

 our horses in the paddock facing the house, the farmer 

 said to me, with an air of triumph which he might most 

 justly adopt, — 



" Now you have seen all — Avhat do you think of this for 

 farming ? " 



During our ride I had made no remark except as to 

 the appearance of the crops or the fineness of the weather. 

 Therefore, looking at him very seriously, I replied, — 



" Why, Mr. Xegus, I don"t call it farming at all." 



A gloom came over his fine old rubicund countenance, 

 which as quickly vanished as I added, " I call it — 

 gardening." 



The same observation will apply to many of his neigh- 

 bours — more particularly to a farm I daily passed in my 

 avocation, and which, under the judicious and most 

 attentive manaoement of the late Mr. William Cambrido-e, 

 many years the tenant of Caius College, Cambridge, at 

 South Runcton, was considered the model farm of the 

 county, and never failed to attract the attention of the 

 traveller. The nation certainly owes an immense debt 

 of gratitude to the late noble owner of Halcomb for 

 originating, encouraging, and progressively improving a 

 system of agriculture that, having been taken up and 

 followed by an intelligent tenantry, has now, by the force 



