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.
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.
On the left is a Wesleyan chapel, and a little beyond is the Forest church, which has an ugly appearance, from the East and West sides of the tower being longer than the other two. It has been so patched and altered by modern art, that little or nothing of the original structure remains, and the ornamental portions of a South window, have long since been destroyed. The hedges in the vicinity are mostly holly and thorn, and the latter, which is generally shrouded with ivy, compensates in a great measure for the absence of timber. On the more exposed parts, the hedges are furze, the usual fence-fashion of the island, which, in spring, beautifies and perfumes the country. The naturalist will observe the entire absence of those insects peculiar to the lowland parishes; as also the appearance of the finch, yellow-hammer, and other alpine birds.
Close to the "Bourg," or village of the Forest, opposite a place called "le Chêne," is a road leading through an inland valley of surprising beauty, terminating at the Vauxbellets, the elegant mansion of Mr Frederick Mansell. An adjoining lane leads to the Hurel, a cluster of poor, dirty looking huts, evidently inhabited by people of the same order. They have the character of being a half gipsy, half beggar race, bearing the name of Pipet, and as their features are foreign to the Guernsey peasantry, none will intermarry or have any thing to do with them. The country people look upon them with an evil eye, for when they are permitted to circumambulate the neighbourhood for their "irvières," or New Year's gift, no one likes to send them away empty-handed, lest peradventure evil befall them, their cattle, or their children.
The country between the Forest and Torteval church is but thinly supplied with wood, and notwithstanding the orchard scenery is much less than elsewhere, the fruit is considered of a sharper and better flavour. The hay is sweet and good, and yields upon an average about one ton per vergée. The gardens, from being too much exposed, produce but little fruit, and in vegetables but ill accord with those of the Câtel and some other of the parishes. In some positions, the celebrated Chaumontel pear dwindles to nothing; the fruit being very little larger than a walnut. The same may be applied to the purple and green fig, which, as a standard, readily attains perfection in other districts, but here, unless screened by a wall, comes to nothing. Melons will not ripen without the aid of glass, and grapes present but a sorry appearance with those of the vale parts.
As the "sarcleur" is as freely used here as elsewhere, the mode of using it may not be unworthy the attention of the stranger. The farmer, he will observe, has one knee on the ground, when he attacks the weeds by pushing forward the edge of the sarcleur under their roots, turning them over, and with the flat side occasionally striking them, in order to disengage the adhereing mould. From this contracted attitude, the labourer is enabled to make greater progress than might be supposed. Flax was once grown here, in common with many other parts of the island; but as the quality was inferior to that imported from the Northern parts of Europe, it was consequently stopped; notwithstanding, some thousand pounds in weight, have been exported to Bridport, Lime, and Poole.
IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY.