THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 107 



from some cause, prefer them whole, and as I see no 

 alteration in the teams' appearance, I have not inter- 

 fered, for it manifestly will pay better if I find that the 

 allowance keeps the horses fresh and blooming, at the 

 same time that there are a porker or two sustained on 

 such grain as runs the gauntlet of the equine internal 

 mill. 



" Time will show, sir," as our honoured bailiff invari- 

 ably answers when I shock his understanding by a 

 suggestion or description of some new-fangled machinery 

 or mode. 



Since I wrote the above I have begun the green-house 

 experiments. Having tied in the shape of a cross two 

 pieces of light wire, looped at the four ends, and laid 

 them upon a circular piece of net, through the border 

 of which and the loops I had run a fine tape, on draw- 

 ing its ends together a tidy cap was the result, with one 

 of which I encircled each geranium boss that I operated 

 on, so effectually fencing off the bees from confounding 

 my experiments. 



What pleasures of anticipation will overhang those 

 boxes of seedlings next year! And if only I should 

 manage to turn out something triumphant, then I'll 

 sell it for a lot, and buy, say a new bull-calf, or a brooch 

 for the Missus, or better still, perhaps, bank it. Ay ! 

 that's just what I'll do. I find that the winter floods 

 have left a rich deposit of no less than four to six inches 

 in depth, where an island is gathering upon a gravel- 

 bed at a bend of the river ; but the grass already con- 

 siderably overtops it, being just ready for the first 

 cutting. A great treasure are these two acres of Nile- 

 like vegetation. There is plenty to eat and plenty to 

 trample, the summer months through, in the fold-yards ; 



