THE DAILY LIFE OF OTJR FARM. 49 



taken in time. " I am sure it wasn't that, sir," the 

 lad burst in; "for I was with them at 12 o'clock last 

 night, after I left the ewes, and he was quite well 

 then." I could say nothing, but await the arrival of 

 the V.S., to make the post-mortem examination that I 

 invariably insist upon in the case of any death upon 

 the farm. 



The knife had scarcely cut through the skin when a 

 torrent of blood rushed out, and finally a clotted mass 

 slipped by. His courage had killed him, poor fellow. 

 He had ruptured a vessel, probably impaired in its 

 coating some weeks since ; for, despite the best feeding, 

 he kept getting thinner, so that I had just begun 

 to suspect worms. Lay him under the sod : £40 

 worth of as gallant stuff as the Welsh mountain-side 

 ever reared ! His only fault was that in harness he 

 must always do the work of both, and so probably he 

 brought about his end. 



And now, as we've launched upon a sea of troubles, 

 let us record further, that, in our absence a fortnight 

 ago, the bailiff sold a cow which had been put up to 

 fatten, because she began to neglect her food. She was 

 by Usurper (13,929), and had once been sold for a 

 hundred guineas. I bought her barren at an auction 

 for her exquisite hair, flat horn, and general style, in 

 the hope that a change of home might restore her 

 fertility. Alas ! it did not. She never proved in-calf 

 during two years, and when the butcher killed her, she 

 was found " full of matter " (as I'm told), whether from 

 some old injury or not, I don't know. Anyhow, the 

 money was returned : I am a poorer and a wiser man. 

 I shall know better than to speculate so for the future. 

 But just to look at the other side : for it's a blessed pro- 



