THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FAEM. 3 



into cigarette form, for gathering, the withered masses 

 that strew the surface of the fallow. 



And then — what then ? what is to be done with the 

 collected heaps ? Should we burn ? should we cart off 

 and wash as fodder for the horses, as the French and 

 Flemish do ? or should we transport them to a heap in 

 the corner of the field, and mix with lime and salt, to 

 make the weed pay penalty as a manure in its turn 1 



Each plan I think a good one. The burning does, of 

 itself, an infinity of service to the soil. The mineral 

 ashes* left are invaluable, but then the vegetable ele- 

 ment is lost, having fled in the smoke of the fire. 



As fodder, well washed, it is said to be excellent. Is 

 it not what the grass-cutters of India provide for their 

 pig-sticking master's Arab? But the question is 

 whether, having the prejudices of the farm-servant to 

 overcome, it would not be unsafe policy, since of course 

 he would take care that it was no saving, as regards 

 the supply of corn and roots and hay ; and besides, he 

 would throw out, as rejected by his team, a quantity 

 to vegetate and hold on its mischievous life in the 

 manure-heap behind the stables, thence to return duly 

 to its former haunt. 



Then a good plan is it, again, to pack up tight the 

 mass, with a dressing of lime between each layer, to 

 make it a compost for the meadow, that will bring up 

 the young white-clover leaflets thickly for the nibbling 

 of the lambs when the ewes' milk shall begin to wane. 

 But of all these plans, "which be the best? " as a rustic 

 hereabouts would inquire. 



Alack-a-day ! what should one do ? To decide — is it 

 not the most disagreeable necessity of every-day life ? 

 Oh 1 that some one would say, Do this, or that ; then, 



B 2 



