98 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



hives, reaching in at night through the wide sum- 

 mer entrances and tearing out the brood combs. 

 But I never lost much by these depredations. 

 What I felt more was the destruction of the wild 

 bees and wasps and ground-nesting birds, by the 

 skunks. 



But these were trifles ! What were a few chick- 

 ens, bees, yellow-jackets, and even the occasional 

 bird's-nest, against the hay-devouring grubs of 

 the June-bug ! And as for the characteristic odor 

 which drifted in now and again with the evening 

 breeze, that had come to have a pleasant quality 

 for me, floating down across my two wide acres 

 of mowing. 



February passed gently into March, and my 

 chickens began to hatch. Every man must raise 

 chickens at some period of his life, and I was 

 starting in for my turn now. Hay had been my 

 specialty heretofore, making two blades grow 

 where there had been one very thin one. But once 

 your two acres are laid down, and you have a 

 stump full of skunks, near by, against the rav- 

 ages of the June-bugs, then there is nothing for 

 you but chickens or something, while you wait. 

 I got Rhode Island Reds, fancy exhibition stock, 



