Tfie Mouchers Caleiidar 131 



share has made, and presently stops to measure the 

 ' lands ' with the spud. His horses halt dead in the 

 tenth of a second at the sound of his voice, glad to 

 rest for a minute from their toil. Work there is 

 in plenty now, for stone-picking, hoeing, and other 

 matters must be attended to ; but the moucher 

 lounges in the road decoying chaffinches, or perhaps 

 earns a shilling by driving some dealer's cattle home 

 from fair and market. 



By April his second great crop is ready — the 

 watercress ; the precise time of course varies very 

 much, and at first the quantities are small. The 

 hedges are now fast putting on the robe of green that 

 gradually hides the wreck of last year's growth. The 

 withered head of the teazle, black from the rain, falls 

 and disappears. Great burdock stems lie prostrate. 

 Thick and hard as they are while the sap is still in 

 them, in winter the wet ground rots the lower part 

 till the blast overthrows the stalk. The hollow 

 'gicks ' too, that lately stood almost to the shoulder, 

 is down, or slanting, temporarily supported by some 

 branch. Just between the root and the stalk it has 

 decayed till nothing but a narrow strip connects the 

 dry upper part with the earth. The moucher sells 

 the nests and eggs of small birds to townsfolk who 

 cannot themselves wander among the fields, but who 



K2 



