770 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May 1, 1900. 
A FARMER'S EVERYDAY LIFE. 
(By " Cosmopolite") 
The month of February is held responsible 
for more that is good and bad than any 
other month of the year, and poets of both 
classes— minor and major— have rhymed about 
the pec\iliarities of tliis distresi^ful month, 
which, fortunately, is the shortest in the 
calendar, and, therefore, soonest brought to 
a close. One rhymer tells how all the other 
months hate a good February, and another 
sings of Fel)ruary filling the dyke,— be it 
black or be it white, — and, if the latt er poet 
is to be depended upon, we should have a 
bumper harvest this year, for February has 
been characterised by a continual downpour 
of snow and rain alternately. Our roads 
have been blocked up, one week, by great 
snow-wreaths, and the next week, by flooded 
streams, so that I am beginning to think 
that, if this sort of thing goes on much 
lono'er, Nature will require to ijrovide us 
with webbed feet, as only amphibious animals 
will be able to exist in our watter-logged 
island. 
In such weather 
THE WORK ON A TARM 
during this month consists in feeding the 
stock in the houses, and digging those sheep 
that are feeding on turnips out from under 
the huge ^drifts of snow. Happy is the 
farmer who has a plentiful supply of turnips 
stored in pits near his steading, thus saving 
his men from the most trying work on a 
farm,— the digging of turnips out from under 
the snow, and carting them through slush, 
mud and heavy snowdrifts. Many !sheep 
have been smothered, this month, in different 
parts of the country : one of my neighbours 
having lost 330 out of a mob of 360, — which 
must spell bankruptcy to him. I have been 
fortunate in this respect, having only lost 
two old ewes, who had out lived their use- 
fulness, and would neither breed nor fatten, 
owing to extreme old age. 
However, as the poet says :— 
" Soon, full soon, will the South wind blow, 
Winter is passing, and under the snow 
Violet and primrose And strength to grow." 
And, as a matter of fact, now that the snow 
is melting, the crocuses and snow-drops are 
beginning to appear, in thousands, around 
my house, through the trees and under the 
hedgerows. 
In the 
AGRICULTURAL, WORLD, FEBRUARY 
is chiefly known as the month of Bull Sales 
and Seed Shows, the former being held at 
Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness, the latter 
wherever two or three farmers can be gath- 
ered together. Our little Agricultural Society 
held its Seed Show, in spite of the distress- 
ing weather, and was remarkable on account 
of the indifferent judging, and the fact that 
the members of Committee took all the prizes. 
It is a truism, in rural circles, that it is 
better to be a friend of the judges or a mem- 
ber of Committee, than to own the best 
stock at the Show,— and this rule seems to 
have held good in this instance. 
The Bull Sales ai'e said to have been some- 
what stiff, which is accounted for by the 
fact that hundreds of young bulls are sent 
to these sales that are not fit for stud work, 
and, indeed, are xnere mongrels ; and these 
sell for a trifle, which, of course, reduces 
the general average ; but a good bull always 
brings a good price, and such has been the 
case, this year, although nothing approach- 
ing the £1,200 paid by Sir Wilfrid Lawson 
to the Duke of Devonshire for one, which 
died shortly afterwards of tuberculosis, and 
Sir Wilfrid suitably exjnessed his feelings 
in the following epitaph : — 
" Here lies ' Duke of Oxford,' quiet and cool. 
Bred by a Dulie, and bought by a fool," 
During this month the Laird of our parish 
has crossed the mystic line dividing tne world 
of men and things from that of shades and 
oblivion, at the ripe age of 81 years, and his 
remains were followed to the churchyard by 
all the countryside, as well as his owii 
tenantry, wading through three feet of snow- 
drift. He was one of the most successful 
farming landlords in Scotland, and this was 
attributed to his having gained his experience 
in the best school in the world, namely that 
of Australia. 
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