46 JANUARY. 



woods, as it bears very well the shade of trees, and 

 is stacked in the ridings for game. In other places, 

 corn and hempseed are given them in seasons of 

 great severity. Thrashing is now a regular employ- 

 ment in some parts of the country, going on even 

 by candle-light. Farming implements are repaired ; 

 drains, ditches, etc. kept open ; manure is led out ; 

 and in particular situations in favourable weather, 

 a little ploughing is done, and common spring-wheat 

 sown. Fruit-trees are pruned and dug round ; hop- 

 grounds trenched, and orchards planted. Timber is 

 felled, and stumps and roots cut up to burn. Timber- 

 trees are planted, and tree-seeds sown. 



ANGLING. 



Most fresh-water fish are now in season, except- 

 ing trout ; but being withdrawn to the deepest 

 places, and the weather being generally intensely 

 cold, the water, for the most part/ frozen over, the 

 angler in general lies by for better days. Keen 

 sportsmen, however, will be on the watch at all 

 times ; and grayling, now reckoned excellent, are 

 sometimes taken in the middle of a bright day, with 

 a grub, or even with a small fly, two descriptions of 

 which, Cotton says, may be taken, or imitated, the 

 red-brown and bright dun. 



