THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FAEM. 199 



about the house took to singing quite spring-like upon 

 the boughs. They are " mum " again to-day : whether 

 wearied with their exertion, or that they took cold, or 

 that they have found out their mistake, I don't know. 



There was such a glorious breeze on Sunday upon 

 the river, making foam-crested billows run up the 

 surface ; but it failed before Monday ; and now the 

 flood has fallen some feet, and left the boat high and 

 dry upon the meadow adjoining her moorings. I am 

 longing for another run before the wind : danger 

 despite ! 



The barley-sheddings, of which I spoke, has been 

 quite a god-send to us. It is fully a foot high, and 

 much has gone into premature ear, so that I had no 

 alternative but to mow it. The clover looks so fresh 

 and regular underneath, after the mown swathe is 

 cleared. I am cutting it up with wheat-straw for a 

 yard full of cows and heifers, and they do well upon it. 

 It seems a better plan than if I had fed down the crop 

 a month since, for I should have lost the subsequent 

 length of growth, beside injuring the clover plant, as I 

 believe the nibbling of sheep does. So certainly the 

 lamented Nesbit taught. It quite delights me, every 

 time I enter the field, to see how regular and thick the 

 produce is. Every year now I shall certainly harrow 

 the barley-stubble remorselessly four ways, with sharp- 

 tined drags, and then put the chain-harrows across just 

 to cover the seed, which is dispersed from the shattered 

 ears ; the benefit of which I should have lost too, had 

 I allowed the bailiff to turn the pigs on, as he desired 

 to do. The mangold-wurzel has yielded fully sixty 

 loads more than the bailiff calculated, so I trust we 

 shall not be short of keep, after all. I am insisting on 



