28 A YEAR IN A LANCASHIRE GARDEN. 



shooting good for a rookery ? It is commonly 

 believed that, if a certain number are not shot, the 

 rooks will desert. Is this so, and, if so, what 

 should be the proportion ? I have some sixty 

 nests, and I wish to keep about this number, 



I have planted many wild Daffodils in the 

 wood ; they are now coming into flower, but they 

 do not seem to flourish as they should. I am told 

 that Daffodils do not do well under a rookery, but 

 I hardly think this likely. 



If, as I said last month, the Crocus has been 

 neglected by English poets, the Daffodil has no 

 right to complain. Some of the most charming 

 lyrics in the language are connected with this 

 flower. Who does not remember Herrick's 



" Fair Daffodil?, we weep to see 

 You haste away so soon ; " 



or Wordsworth's 



" Host of golden Daffodils 

 Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze " ? 



Jean Ingelow, too, in her Persephone, makes the 

 Daffodil the flower which tempts the unhappy 

 maiden from her companions as they ramble along 

 the fields of Enna 



