As the stranger can scarce fail to be awakened at the bustle attendant on the preparation of the ground for this seed, together with the holiday-like supper at the end, it will not be amiss to take a brief survey of the operations. As the small farms into which Guernsey is divided will not allow every individual farmer to keep sufficient cattle for this work, it is performed by a combination of neighbours, who are repaid by the like joint-stock assistance, in which there is a mutual understanding as to the loan of ploughs and other instruments. Towards the latter end of February the ground is prepared by means of ploughs; a small one precedes, and opens the furrow to the depth of four inches, and a large one follows, with four or six oxen and as many horses, that deepens the furrow to twelve or fourteen inches;--this plough is called "la grande charrue." As soon as the clods are capable of being broken, the harrowing commences, which is repeated till the soil is pulverised and reduced nearly to a state of garden mould. The seed is then broad-cast over the ground, but on a day when the wind is just sufficient to ensure an even dispersion; after which it is covered with the harrow. The quantity sown to the vergée is half a denerel or two quarts. [Illustration] In this and St Martin's parish there has been lately introduced a very excellent sort of pig, which in breed is supposed to be an admixture between the English and Chinese kinds. Until lately a good specimen was to be seen at a public-house kept by ---- Hopkins, whose mode of feeding is first with raw parsnips, then with boiled, and towards the end of the fattening a little barley meal. By this kind of feeding the quantity of pork is much encreased, but the quality is impaired, as the fat becomes flabby. To provide against this he adds an extra quantum of saltpetre in the curing, which answers tolerably well. However, be it as it may, they are much more profitable than the foreign long-legged ones, so common in the Valle and other districts. Hogs of this kind, twenty months old, when killed at Christmas, have weighed from 400 to 420 lbs. [Illustration] As the stranger may not have hitherto had a proper opportunity of observing the manner of Guernsey churning, it may not be unacceptable to give him an idea. In England, either the barrel churn or the patent vertical ones are generally used, whereas here the old fashioned upright one has maintained its ground through all time and change, which if not deemed a cleanly way is certainly an expeditious one. The milk, which is churned with the cream, is commonly put in the churn over night, and that generally on the third day. When it is curdled it is churned, the acidity of the milk quickening the butter, which is not to be excelled in any part of the world.