LITTLE GADDESDEN. 301 



here what we [T. I. p. 298] had also found before on all 

 much-sloping fields in the whole of this district, that the 

 water- furrows between the ' lands ' were not drawn from 

 the highest parts of the fields to the lowest, but across, 

 and almost parallel with the beds of the valleys, which 

 was done that the water in heavy rain might not wash 

 away the mould and the sown crop, as it would otherwise 

 do to some extent if the water-furrows ran right down 

 from the hill to the valley, which is prevented by draw- 

 ing out the ploughed fields and furrows in the aforesaid 

 way. 



Fara-falla pa akrar, och dessa Kreaturs mang- 

 faldiga nytta. 



Sheep-folds on the arable fields, and the manifold uses of these 



animals. 



Sheep dung and urine are here considered as the 

 choicest manure for arable land, and the folding of sheep 

 on fallow land is reckoned such a useful thing that it 

 cannot be paid for in money. It is also only through 

 sheep that many a poor man has all his food and the 

 necessaries of life. The thing goes on thus : — A poor 

 man lays by something by labour, or how he can, so that 

 he is just able to buy a few sheep — the more the better. 

 Thereupon he goes to a farmer and offers to fold his 

 sheep at night on his fallow fields, if the farmer will give 

 him a reasonable payment therefor. The farmer is quite 

 satisfied with an offer which is so good for his fields, and 

 agrees with the owner of the sheep to pay him a certain 

 sum for every acre of land of his on which he folds his 

 sheep. If now the sheep-man sees that the farmer will 

 not give him so much as he thinks he has a right to ask, 

 he tells another farmer about it, and always strikes a 

 bargain with the highest bidder, or where he gets the 

 largest [T. I. p. 299] profits. When the agreement is 



