NOVEL METHODS 67 



typical of modern management, in which no fixed 

 rotation is followed but the land is cropped to a large 

 extent according to the expectations of business. 

 Again the bulk of the crops were sold for seed, but as 

 the land was lighter and more calcareous (a chalky 

 boulder clay) greater variety was possible. Many of 

 the fields indeed were light enough to grow peas 

 successfully, some for picking green, while others were 

 threshed out; a breeding flock also was kept and 

 folded on the green crops, though not always to the 

 benefit of the sheep or of the land. The sheep were 

 the Suffblks, handsomest of all the Down breeds, with 

 their black faces, close fleeces, and clean symmetrical 

 build ; to a particular degree they seem to combine size 

 with refinement, they also move better than some of 

 their rival breeds. The sheep were being folded on a 

 mixture of kale and vetches sown together, a mixture 

 new to us but one that was providing a large amount 

 of sheep-keep and a good combination of foods. Nor 

 was the mixed crop the only novelty, for in one field 

 it was being eaten off by young pigs folded on the 

 land like sheep ; unusual as it is to see pigs thus 

 grazing, they might very well be treated to more of an 

 outdoor life than they generally obtain. Pigs are in 

 good demand in this district because of a successful 

 bacon factory, and it is noteworthy that, though the 

 local farmers largely found the capital for the under- 

 taking, it is being worked on a joint-stock and not on 

 a co-operative basis. On this farm also bullocks were 

 fattened during the winter, but the occupier confessed 

 that he had never been able to make his winter 

 feeding pay except by attaching an excessive value 

 to the dung produced. But seed-growing and not 

 stock was the characteristic feature of the farm ; we 

 saw, for example, the last of a crop of crimson clover 



