304 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



to a leak in the boiler necessitating repairs, we had to 

 stop a team regularly at mid-day for the purpose of 

 chaff-cutting or pulping. And no one who has begun 

 with a small engine but would be soiTy that he had 

 not while about it invested in a fair-sized one. Mr. 

 Mechi's remarks on this subject, long since published, 

 we now feel to be thoroughly correct. An enthusiastic 

 neighbour, who had had, too, some experience of steam 

 while at college, invested in a small second-hand engine 

 the other day with which he managed to cut up his 

 small stuff at a rare pace. Unfortunately, one day he 

 took to exhibiting the same, some ladies having honoured 

 him with a visit, when he managed to blow the safety- 

 valve out, and the windows had to be smashed to allow 

 of the affrighted fair ones' escape. So 



** Beware, young man, of a musical valve. " 



Having re-lit, it strikes me that it is not for the 

 farmer to speculate. I have just heard of a man who 

 will have to pay five pounds hire for bags in which his 

 com has stood waiting for the rise of the market. The 

 victims in this district through holding their wool have 

 been numerous. One is said to have refused 25. 2d. 

 for a lot which he afterwards sold at half the figure. 

 Talking of wool makes one think of one's head, and 

 thinking of one's head at our time of life leads to think- 

 ing of thatch, and thinking of thatch leads to thinking 

 how we shall manage, having consumed our straw, to 

 cover our hay-stacks this season, which we rnean to be 

 numerous. The thought strikes us ; we will caiTy out 

 our long-projected plan of felling a couple of plaguy 

 hedgerow elms whose long extended claws drag out the 

 sustenance from the adjoining soil for yards into the 



