On looking out of my chamber-window the following morning, I was surprised to see two small and very neat inclosures, in one of which flax was growing, and in the other wheat. The latter, which apparently had been sown about seven weeks, was very poor and unpromising: the ground had too much water, and seemed of late to have been flooded. Our host regaled us with a breakfast of stewed fowl, excellent coffee and milk, and a dish of _feijones_, with mandioca and buttered toast; after which he conducted us to his inclosures.
The flax was very healthful and strong: he told us he cut[35] it three or four times a year, and that it was dressed, spun, and woven in his own house. He grew but little, having occasion for no more than what answered his domestic purposes. The wheat, he told us, was blighted. He shewed us a sample of last year’s growth, which was very poor, coarse, and foul. The mills are of similar construction to those used at Canta Gallo, but I did not observe a pair of stones fit for the grinding of wheat.
I now expressed a wish to see his dairy, which the good gentleman immediately complied with. Instead of an apartment, such as I expected to find, fitted up and kept in order for that sole purpose, I was shewn into a kind of dirty store-room, the smell of which was intolerable. The present, I was told, was not the time for making cheese, as the cows gave milk only in the rainy season. I begged to see the implements used in the process; and, on examining them, found, to my utter astonishment, that neither the vats nor cloths had been washed since they were last used; and the milk-pails, &c. were in the same condition. This sufficiently accounted for the offensive smell which I had perceived on entering the place. When I asked to see the utensil used for making butter, an apology was made, by stating that it was not in the way: they had observed my disgust at the other vessels, and probably thought that this was equally unfit to be inspected. I did all in my power to inform our worthy host of the manner in which English dairies were conducted, and gave him several directions, which he wrote down, but seemed quite indifferent about adopting them. On enquiry, I found that no provision was made for the cows; there were no houses erected for milking, and that operation was frequently neglected, and at all times badly performed.