60 LOCH C RE RAN. 



Sharp teeth are driven into them as we reach home, but 

 the task is too severe even for the youngsters, and our 

 native apple is voted a delusion and a snare. But what 

 a crop the tree bore; while another tree in the garden we 

 have just left, is equally weighted for the first time. In 

 more than one garden about, there are trees this year 

 yielding abundantly that never before showed more than 

 a handful of pears or a pocketful of apples. This is, no 

 doubt, our legacy from last year's fine summer; but what 

 can we expect from next season after this heatless year ? 

 The water in the sea was cold enough yesterday for the 

 month of January. 



This morning the loch is as calm as crystal, and the 

 mist is 1'fting from the water and the fields, and creep- 

 ing along the face of the hills with weird-like stateliness 

 that contrasts strangely with the previous day ; for our 

 stocks, that were in capital condition for leading, were 

 suddenly scattered by the severe southerly gale, and then 

 deluged by the succeeding torrents that continued 

 throughout the day. A day of such a character accounts 

 for a vast deal of the difference between the actual 

 returns to the farmer and the natural expectation from 

 the seed sown. A careful husbandman, and skilled 

 observer informs us that he has frequently counted the 

 grains on a single stalk of oats here, and found that the 

 average was not under twenty-five, while we are content 

 in this part of the world with about four returns. 

 Where is this vast difference between four and twenty- 

 five to be looked for ? No doubt a large number of 

 seeds are unfertile, many more have the vital part of the 

 seed destroyed by insects before it can sprout, and birds 

 must be credited with another proportion; while grain 

 that is thoroughly ripe and has got thoroughly wet, when 



