244 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of course, but a robin will not thrive long if it cannot bathe as it 

 pleases, and a rare splashing it will make if allowed. 



The most enjoyable way to keep a robin is to allow it to leave 

 the cage and fly about the room all day, and at night coax it into its 

 cage with a meal-worm or two. Bob will go in for his meal-worm 

 and keep an eye on the door. Tou must be gentle. When he has 

 picked up the worm put as a decoy, throw in another at the front 

 of the cage to take his attention from the door, and then softly shut 

 him in. A robin in a room must reign alone. Any bird competitor 

 will ensure quarrelling, and it may be bloodshed. Bob is the 

 tenderest and most engaging bird in all the world until another bird 

 dares to share the apartment with him, when he is seized with a dread- 

 ful desire to taste the blood or even see the brain of his competitor, 

 and a 6ght is sure to follow. 



When loose in the room is the best time for Bob to have his 

 bath, and he will rush into water, whatever sort of vessel it may be 

 in. Nay, he will imagine water sooner than go without his bath. I 

 have seen a bird of mine perch on the slippery top of a large china 

 jar, and the coldness and glisten of which suggested to him that he 

 might now have his bath. Then he would stoop into the imagined 

 water, throw it over his back, and then allow his wings and leathers 

 to drop as if really wet, and finally he would go on the edge of the 

 fender to dry himself at the fire, though a cold, dry, slippery surface 

 of shiny porcelain was the nearest imitation of water he had enjoyed. 



The song of the robin suits a room admirably ; it is soft, rich, and 

 melodious. When a bird is used to a room, it usually passes much 

 of its time on the curtain-pole or some similarly high perch, whence 

 now and again it sends forth a delightful trill. But it will come 

 down to dinner, and must really be allowed to behave as it pleases 

 on the dinner table. 



THE POTATO IN 1875. 



rHE phenomena of the potato field have proved interesting 

 at least this season, and we very much fear the ie^ 

 examples of defective growth we have thus far observed, 

 will at last culminate in a general failure. We are 

 writing on the 15th of July ; the rain is raining with a 

 vengeance ; for more than fifteen hours it has rained heavily and 

 continuously in our green valley of the Lea, where, we are bound to 

 observe, the raiufall, taking the year through, is a trifle less than the 

 London average. A wet summer means devastation of the potato 

 crop, and we lully expect that the too well known disease wall prevail 

 disastrously on all the heavy lands. But our readers, probably, care 

 little for our speculations, though, as a matter of course, they will 

 be interested in the facts that have come within our cognizance. 



The month of May was characterized by unusually bright, drv, 

 hot weather. The potatoes made splendid progress. I'hey were 

 in no serious degree injured by late frosts. The prospect, as 



