5 2 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



mischief. The grain (on the straw) is sometimes 

 given to the birds laid across skeleton trestles, roughly 

 made of stout ash sticks, so as to raise it above the 

 ground and enable them to get at it better. 



Ash woods are cut every year, or rather they are 

 mapped out into so many squares, the poles in which 

 come to maturity in succession — while one is down 

 another is growing up, and thus in a fixed course of 

 years the entire wood is thrown and renovated. A 

 certain time has, of course, to be allowed for pur- 

 chasers to remove their property, and, as the roads 

 through the woods are often axle-deep in mud, in a 

 wet spring it has frequently to be extended. So many 

 men being about, the keeper has to be about also : 

 and then when at last the gates are nailed up, the 

 cattle turned out to grass in the adjacent fields often 

 break in and gnaw the young ash-shoots. In this way 

 a trespassing herd will throw back acres of wood for 

 a whole year, and destroy valuable produce. Properly 

 speaking, this should come under the attention of the 

 bailiff or steward of the demesne ; but as the keeper 

 and his men are so much more likely to discover the 

 cattle first, they are expected to be on the watch. 



After spending so many years of his life among 

 trees, it is natural that the keeper should feel a special 

 interest, almost an affection for them. A branch ruth- 



