Sir Tatton Sykes. 239 



Leicester sheep were his delight, and he would keep 

 at least twenty score of ewes. He let from 100 to 

 110 rams annually to ram breeders and tenants, and 

 liked a small, compact sheep as the most thrifty for 

 Wold purposes. Mr. Hall of Scorbro' generally gave 

 the highest price (which never exceeded 30/.) for a 

 ram at his letting, and took from one to three every 

 year. Fat lambs Sir Tatton never would sell, and 

 latterly he only gave his wethers one winter on tur- 

 nips. Buckley, Burgess, and Stone had laid the 

 corner-stone of his flock, but for nearly twenty years he 

 had used no rams save his own. His sheep had grass, 

 turnips, and hay, but they were as ignorant of cake 

 and peas as the -" Welshmen" on Snowdon. For early 

 sheep-feeding, he more especially preferred White 

 Stone Globe, and he finished up with Swedes. It was 

 his rule never to sow mangolds and turnips before the 

 first of June, as he did not consider that the land had 

 absorbed sufficient heat. Cabbage he tried once, but 

 gave it up ; he only grew potatoes for home consump- 

 tion, and oats while he had hunters and hounds to eat 

 it. Bones were a great point with him ; he first intro- 

 duced them at Pockthorpe, and broke them up to 

 half-an-inch with hammers. 



The Wolds are essentially a sheep district, and 

 horse-breeding has not been found to answer so well 

 as in Holderness. Hence, Sir Tatton always held 

 thirty-five acres of marsh land at his Ryehill estate, 

 and made a practice of going down there once a year 

 with his three and four-year-old hunter colts. The 

 yearling and two-year-old colts he put out on seeds 

 along with the fillies which joined the stud at four 

 years old. The tenth of May was " Marsh Morning," 

 and soon after four o'clock Sir Tatton on his hack 

 would head the cavalcade. He had generally three 

 or four men with him to drive and help at the bye- 

 lanes and corners. When he kept hounds, his hunters 

 had three and a half months of this Marsh life, and 



