NATURE'S CALENDAR 153 



JULY 



It is by no means easy to separate juiy i 



July from August in such a series as this 

 and say this feature belongs to this month 

 and that one to that. Midsummer brings 

 us to a certain pause in the progress of 

 the year— not to the full stop of mid- 

 winter, but to a time when nature is 

 growing and waits for results. Therefore 

 I can treat midsummer much as I did 

 midwinter, as a period, considering July 

 and August together, but under two as- 

 pects, first inland and second at the sea- 

 shore, whither many of my readers doubt- 

 less will betake themselves during the 

 long vacation. 



By the time July is well started the 

 rains have ceased, the woods are deep in 

 the shadow of completed leafage and 

 growing twigs, the soil is dry and is 

 throwingout an increasing crop of curious 

 agarics, and walking in the dusty roads 

 or open uplands is unpleasant. Naturally 

 enough, then, we turn in our rambles 

 towards the watercourses and seek to 

 read the "books in the running brooks." 



"The shimmering fields, where haying 

 has begun, no longer resound to the 

 merry music of the bobolink, meadow- 



