These “pits” are excavations from which marl has been dug to place on the surface of the surrounding land as manure, and some curious old customs and words are connected with “marling.” After breakfast on the pit bank, the “head man,” who was termed the “Lord of the soil,” called out in a loud voice three times: “‘O! Yez! O! Yez! O! Yez! This is to give notice that Mr. ---- has given to us Marlers part of a thousand pounds, and to whomsoever will do the same we will return thanks and shout.’ The men then joined hands, and, putting their heads together, shouted ‘Largesse! Largesse!’” Should any one pass through the field, the “Lord” walked up, having a marl clod on his shoulder. This was so well understood that sixpence or a shilling was usually given. If the former, it was proclaimed as “part of one hundred pounds”; if the latter, “part of one thousand pounds.” At the close of the season they assembled in front of the village inn, and repeated the oration. “Ladling and slutching” is the clearing out the water and mud from a pit. “Fea” is the soil covering the marl. “Setting” is spreading the marl over the land; “Mid-feather,” the space between the pits. The Cheshire rhyme says: “He that marls sand may buy the land, He that marls moss shall have no loss, He that marls clay flings all away.” RUSH-BEARING The strewing of the floors with rushes is an old custom, and has died hard. The farmhouses in Cheshire were strewn on the first of May with green rushes, over which lavender and rosemary were scattered. Rushes are no longer used, but a pattern is frequently worked on the flagged floor by the juice of dock leaves.[61] Formerly all churches were strewn with rushes, and these were generally renewed on great festivals: “1551 Rysshes at Wytsontyd vi^d ” ” ” Mydsomer viij^d ” ” against All Hallowtyde x^d 1584 To Edward Griffith for boughs, rishes, and other things what time the Earl of Leicester came hither xviij^s ij^d”[62] “1630 Paid to Robert Raborne for getting out the old rushes of the church viij^d”[63] The custom of carrying rushes to church gradually developed into a festival, and the rushes were then decorated and carried in procession. In some parishes, where the time of year was suitable, this was done on the “Wake” day of the village. Flowers and garlands were added, which “were hung up in the church; we saw these garlands remaining in several places.”[64] Finally, the graves were strewn with them. This custom is still observed at Farndon with much ceremony on July 16th or the first Sunday afterwards. [61] Utkinton Hall, 1908. [62] Chester Cathedral Treasurer’s Accounts. [63] Frodsham Accounts. [64] Lyson’s _Cheshire_.