THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 77 



What a number of Short-horn sales appear on the 

 horizon ! Whatever will the upshot be ? what the 

 average of Mr. Bett's herd, or the Marquis of Exeter's 

 celebrated stock? Shall the furious fighting of Towneley 

 be repeated ? or a determined, earnest bidding, as 

 under the pouring rain at Fawsley ? Certain it is that 

 the fountain-heads of the purest blood must be kept 

 untainted, wherefrom to replenish and repair the 

 weaker springs and compound mixtures of the ordinary 

 farmyard herd. Yes ; and there is chivalry in England 

 to do it. The purest high-born families of the Short- 

 horn are now as interesting and valuable as most 

 blood-horse stock ; while the love of them is as deeply 

 ingrained in the hearts of their many agricultural and 

 aristocratic admirers, as is the love of cricket in the 

 affections of the English nation at large. Shortly we 

 shall see. It is a turning-point in the tide of pedigree- 

 herds, of which we anticipate a golden issue. 



May, 1867. 

 Well, I have about made up my mind respecting the 

 moles. My bailiff informs me that an excellent hunter 

 has offered to keep our invasion down for a halfpenny 

 an acre, if I will supply him with new traps. This 

 looked so much like a trap for m3^self, that I have 

 informed mine excellent helpmate, who is not a 'coon 

 of the first water, that we will let the host alone, and 

 study consequences with a view to future action. One 

 fresh line of hillocks I noticed yesterday, thrown up 

 across a wheat-field put in after clover ley. They cross 

 the brow, however, where I have noticed the plants 

 look feeble for some time past, so that I have hopes 



