September 



HEMP (Cannabis sativa) 



EMP is such a graceful plant that it 

 would be well worth cultivating in our 

 gardens, if it were only for its rich green 

 leafage ; but my hemp bed has now an 

 additional charm, in that its ripe seeds attract all 

 kinds of small birds, which haunt the slender stems, 

 flitting in and out in search of the coveted provender. 

 Four species of titmice are especially active, and may 

 be seen all day long, generally head downwards, 

 creeping about like little mice, twittering cheerfully 

 to each other as they pursue their busy search. 

 These charming birds abound in my old garden, 

 owing to my having attracted them to the place for 

 the last thirty years by keeping a little basket filled 

 with fat outside my dining-room window. This 

 basket has been well known from time immemorial 

 to the successive generations of tits in the 

 neighbourhood. 



These birds need a diet of fat in the winter months 

 to enable them to bear the cold, just as the natives in 

 the Arctic regions feed on blubber or whale fat 

 to supply themselves with the warmth needed to 

 sustain life. 



It has been a great pleasure to me and to my 



