d as that between the man who fits the shoe to the hoof, and
the man who fits the hoof to the shoe--in other words, the workman and
the sloven. Doubtless many a slum-housed artisan in the big town,
driven from his country home by the flood of unfair foreign
competition, looks back with longing to the bright old cottage garden
of his youth and in his dreams hears the music of the forge, sees the
blazing fire, and sniffs the pungency of scorching hoof.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DAIRY--CATTLE--SHEEP--LAMBS--PIGS--POULTRY.

"And brushing ankle-deep in flowers,
We heard behind the woodbine veil
The milk that bubbled in the pail,
And buzzings of the honied hours."
--_In Memoriam_.

My farm had the reputation of being a good cheese farm, but a bad
butter farm; in spite, however, of this tradition I determined to
establish a pedigree Jersey herd for butter-making. For early in my
occupation I had abandoned the cheese manufacture of my predecessor
and later the production of unprofitable beef. My wife attended
various lectures and demonstrations and was soon able to prove that
the bad character of the farm for this purpose was not justified.
Within a few years she covered one wall of the dairy with prize cards
won at all the leading shows, and found a ready market for the
produce, chiefly by parcel post to friends. The butter, although it
commanded rather a better price than ordinary quality, was considered
not only by them but by the villagers more economical, as owing to its
solidity and freedom from butter milk, it would keep good
indefinitely, and "went much further."

The cream from my Jerseys was so thick that the cream crock could be
lifted up by the wooden spoon used for stirring, by merely plunging it
into the crock full of cream and raising it, without touching the
crock in any other way. With fifteen cows and heifers in milk on an
average, the Jerseys brought me in quite L300 a year in butter and
cream, without considering the value of the calves, and of the
skim-milk for the pigs, and they were worth a good deal besides from
the aesthetic point of view. I think that the word "dainty" describes
the Jersey better than any other adjective; their beautiful lines and
colouring in all shades of fawn and silver grey make them a continual
delight to behold. After all, however, the shorthorn is a magnificent
creature; they, too, have their aesthetic sid