A JOURNAL KEPT IN THE COUNTRY. Ill 



rise only to vanish ; to try to find comfort in sunrise 

 or sunset. The restless wind swept the sky clear of 

 the last thread of vapour, and left a grey-blue vault 

 from which the sun shone with July face. The light 

 was broad and colourless, the heat dry and untem- 

 pered ; and the latter Spring became a desolation. 

 All vegetation suffered ; the breeze which all day 

 sucked the moisture from the roots, blew keen under 

 the stars, and the frost bit just before dawn in the 

 lower plots and unsheltered corners. Leaves lacked 

 the moist, crude green of Spring ; grass yellowed ; 

 the apple-blossom fell almost as soon as it opened. 

 Pseony blooms were but half-grown, and strewed 

 their petals all too soon ; delphiniums were climbing 

 inches every day, hurrying out their flower-spikes, 

 pushing on with the rest to bloom and seed, forced 

 by a dry root-run. Insect pests made the most of 

 the dry chill weather ; rose-grub and caterpillar 

 meshed up and gnawed the leaves of the Perpetuals ; 

 greenfly mossed over the lustiest shoots with their 

 serried host. As a balance to this, the slugs and 

 " shell-snegs " were laid close in tufts and clumps of 

 the borders, and the daintiest seedling was safe in the 

 midst of the dusty soil. Weeds, too, suffered ; an 

 hour's skimming of the surface with the hoe made 

 havoc with the persicaria, goosefoot and fumitory, 



