232 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



in, has been twice fed down, and is now well advanced 

 for cutting ; after which I shall expect a tidy show of 

 the green-topped hybrid turnip. I think it right to 

 mention this, because the grass-seed at first disappointed 

 us, and I was forward to blame the sellers who had 

 advertised this plan. 



We are very unlucky in the hatching of geese — about 

 forty eggs and only seven goslings, or gulls, as the 

 country-people call them in this neighbourhood. I was 

 afraid that the nests might have been made of hay — a 

 material which conduces much to the rotting of eggs 

 during the mysterious process of incubation. But no, 

 I ascertained that there had been straw strewn in the 

 vicinity of their huts. They had had, moreover, a free 

 run of the orchards and stackyard. They had plenty 

 to choose from, if they had only used their heads ; but 

 that of course they didn't do, being geese. They were 

 no better than servants in that respect, whose non- 

 thinking habit, by the way, one would not so much 

 deplore, if, on the other hand, they never took airs. 

 Just before this welcome rain arrived, our tank ran 

 short, and we had to try a number of places, all without 

 success, with the Abyssinian tube for water. At last 

 luckily we struck an accumulation, if not a spring, in a 

 sandbed, aud as our good fortune would have it, in the 

 comer of a large cattle-shed, where it is especially 

 wanted, within fifteen yards too of the tank, and, above 

 all, under cover ; so that a succession of hands can 

 work it to advantage when it is too wet above head to 

 be abroad. Our water-cresses have been so abundant 

 — so sharp — and all the more delicious that we grew 

 them ourselves. The only fault is, that the spring 

 being in a hollow, it is a regular sun-trap, the bright 



