December 1862

Monday 1st  Julia calved this morning at ½ past 5. Twin calves a cow and a bull calf, very fine calves for twins.
Mr Pickering and Mr Linney of Thithelton came to value on Mr Reeves old farm.  They stayed for dinner and tea.
Tom Suter came in the morning and helped me choose some Mangolds out for seed, they were grown from seed sent to Mr Wortley by Thomas Gibbs as a new.  Tom Suter usually gains the prize of £2 offered by the Rutland Agricultural Society for the best 1 acre of Margold Wurzel.  He always grows his own seed carefully selected from his own crop.  He has grown this root for 11 years and has only had 1 change of seed

Tuesday 2nd  Mr Wortley is now a reporter for Bell’s Weekly Messenger so he has a copy of it for nothing.  Donna Maria calved this morning a white bull calf.  Mr and Mrs Wortley and Cutting went to Mr John Rookes of Weldon.  I worked at the arbour and went to fetch some moss with the little mare.  I heard from John this morning asking me to go to Peatling tomorrow and go with him to the Birmingham Agricultural Show so I am going to do so.

Wednesday 3rd  I went on Tom’s little mare to Peatling and arrived there about 4.30.  I stayed at Mary at Langton to bait (?) the horse.

Thursday 4th  John and I drove to Rugby and then took the train to Birmingham.  We first went to see the International Dog Show, there were a very large show of dogs; but they did not interest me much.  We then went and had some dinner and afterwards went to Bingley Hall to see the Agricultural Show.  Mr Swinnerton’s Short Horned ox of Weddington near Nioneaton (?) took the first prize in the 1st Short horned class, great dissatisfaction was shown in this case,  Mr S. having bought the steer at the Smithfield show last year where it was shown and gained the 1st prize.   Mr S. has since then shown it at the Sparkanhoe show at Leicester and gained the 1st and also at the     Rugby show where it got the prize.  So it seems Mr  Swinnerton makes a £.s.d.  conwin (?) of it.  We saw some Eureka Manure there, it was made entirely of night soil and is manufactured at  Hyde near Manchester.  Sutton and sons of Reading had a large stand of roots and seeds.  They were very large; but not  very good in quality.  Altogether I enjoyed myself very much.  We went back to Rugby by train and went and looked round the Grammer School it awakened up in my mind the scene of Tom Brown’s School Days.  We got to Peatling about 10 oclock.

Friday 5th  We went to Mr Henry Clarke’s to shoot rabbits we also walked round John’s farm.  He is draining a good deal of his land.  3 ft deep and making various other improvements.

Saturday 6th  John went to Leicester and I went to Hinckley on the mare.

Sunday 7th  Tom, Annie and I went to the Parish Church morning and evening and we walked to the station in the afternoon.

Monday 8th  Hinckley market day.  Tom and I walked to the wharf and across his fields in the morning, we met C. Watson and had a glass of beer with him at Paynes.

Tuesday 9th  Annie and I went to call on the Woodcocks and we set out in the trap to call on the Pilgrim’s  of Burbach;  but it came on rain so we had to return home.  Charlie and Pathy Woodcock, Miss Ashford and young Fose all came for tea, we played at Loo until 12 oclock when the party broke up.

Wednesday 10th  I drove Annie to call on the Fulshaw’s of  xxxx.  We had a very nice drive.

Thursday 11th  I went to Leicester by the buss, Jane and Fanny were in Leicester and we all dined at the Cresent.  I went on by train to Manton.

This is the last entry  for 1862 which finishes part way down the page.  There were about 10 more pages in Clarke’s notebook, but they have been removed, whether by Clarke or by others we do not know.