152 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



the cause of its excessive looseness, is thereby cor- 

 rected. 



By the way, being in the humour to communicate 

 recipes, you will doubtless have tried the old plan of 

 getting grease out of cloth by laying brown, blotting, 

 or other absorbent paper upon the spot, and pressing it 

 with a hot iron. A far better plan, as was shown to 

 me the other day, is to hold a piece of red-hot coal 

 with the tongs close above the stain ; you will see the 

 grease apparently issue out in steam. I have always 

 found that the ironing of paper left a something still 

 inherent in the cloth, which was attractive of dust, and 

 showed very shortly. Under this latter process, the 

 obnoxious element vanishes like a well -rattled fox. 

 Experto crede. 



Curious is it how practice sharpens natural ability. 

 One has heard of a man having an eye for a horse ; 

 but to-day it occurred to me to find a man with an eye 

 for a needle. One of the servants having a bad whit- 

 low, I had pricked it for him, and threw the instru- 

 ment out of sight as I imagined between a drinking 

 trough and the wall. The next day, having to repeat 

 the operation, I remembered where I threw the needle, 

 and looked for it, but in vain. The coachman, seeing me 

 stoop, said, " Oh ! I have the needle, sir." I could not 

 have thought that anyone would have noticed it 

 thrown there ; but I found a solution. The man had 

 been a tailor, and took to driving, as his health suffered 

 from too close confinement to the house. 



More assured am I than ever of the value of rowen 

 for lambing ewes. It is delightful to stand by the 

 tame grey-eyed Down mother, and watch her so dain- 

 tily make her dinner, cropping first an advanced green 



