271 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FAEM. 



encourage a fresh sweet springing of the pasture. The 

 fine new mould which was filled-in during October, the 

 angry flood made short work of when it managed to 

 overleap the jetties. A subsequent inundation, how- 

 ever, was completely baffled by such packing as we did, 

 by way of experiment, of the gaps before emptied. 

 Once get the slope smoothed, and a fair sward upon it, 

 and we shall have no further fear of any wash. We 

 shall only hope that the waters will descend as thick as 

 can be with a loamy solution from the upper country. 

 It is very surprising to see how rapidly grass blades 

 manage to disengage the earthy particles from the 

 turbid sheet as it advances upon the plain. I watched 

 it rush angrily — a very mud soup — up a narrow hollow 

 in the field, where a fence had once stood ; but before 

 it had travelled two hundred yards, the element was 

 returning fast to its normal limpid condition, and 

 became clear as crystal when it with difficulty had 

 mounted some higher portion of the meadow. 



The purchase of the mare and horse in Wales has 

 made us veiy forward to our work. It is grand to have 

 had the stubbles all deeply ploughed a month since, so 

 that the rocky soil is getting as friable as can be. For 

 mangold- wurzel I shall only work the ground now with 

 a scarifier until it is opened with a double mould-board 

 plough, for the reception of good soapy muck from our 

 deepest fold-yard, which is hollowed out of the rock. I 

 saw the juice running out of the carts just now, as 

 mellow and deep-tinted as October ale. We have so 

 much stock in the folds and boxes, that in a month's 

 time it will be full-stufPed again. A couple of acres of 

 cabbage having been planted during my absence in the 

 autumn without the land having, as it should have 



