124 MY LIFE 



piece of definite information I ever heard given on these occa- 

 sions. A young farmer was complaining of the poor crop of 

 wheat he had got from one of his best fields, and he said he 

 could not make it out. One of the large farmers, who was 

 looked up to as an authority, asked, " What did you do to the 

 field?" "Well," said the young man, "I ploughed it" (a 

 pause) ; " I ploughed it twice." " Ah ! " said the expert, 

 " that's where you lost your crop." The rest looked approval. 

 Some said, " That's it ;" others said, " Ah ! " The young man 

 said nothing, but looked gloomy. Evidently the oracle had 

 spoken, and nothing more was to be said; but I have often 

 wondered since if that really zvas the cause of the bad crop of 

 wheat. There seem to be so many other things to be taken 

 account of — the kind of seed used ; the mode of sowing, 

 whether broadcast or drilled ; the quantity and kind of manure 

 used; the condition of the soil as regards moisture, freedom 

 from weeds, and many other matters ; — all, one would think, 

 equally important with the mere difference between one or 

 two ploughings. I should have liked to have asked about this 

 at the time, but I was too shy and afraid of exposing my 

 ignorance. 



The farmers here were very proud of their mutton, and 

 one with whom we were especially friendly told us one day 

 about a fine sheep he had killed the previous year — five years 

 old, I think he said — and that he had kept one of the legs of 

 mutton six months in his cellar, which was large and very 

 cool. He assured us that it was perfectly sweet, and that he 

 invited several of his friends to dinner, and they all agreed 

 that they had never eaten such fine mutton in their lives. At 

 the time I hardly believed this, holding the usual opinion 

 that meat necessarily putrefied, but I have no doubt now that 

 he was speaking the truth, and that much of our meat would 

 be greatly improved in quality if we had suitable places in 

 which to store it for a few weeks or months before cooking. 



Soon after we came to Turvey a young gentleman from 

 Bedford came to us to learn a little surveying. He was, I 

 think, the son of an auctioneer or estate agent, and was about 

 eighteen or twenty years old. As my brother was occasion- 



