28 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



cover. Is it not that the manure may be too rank ? 

 I see in a review of Sowerby's book, in the Times, 

 they speak of many vegetables being ruined by over- 

 manuring, and the absolute necessity that exists of 

 denying all such forcemeat to the finest flavoured grapes 

 of France, which are grown upon the bare shingle. 

 We noticed this year, that the white grapes which 

 ripened out of doors had a flavour some degrees supe- 

 rior to the house-grown. Or perhaps it is that the 

 fairies dance not under roof, and that, consequently, 

 you cannot establish on your foul indoor compost, those 

 bright green rings that mark the footing of their mid- 

 night revels, and which are the only parts of the meadow 

 that ever yield a mushroom at alL 



** Oh, a dainty life doth the fairy lead : 



She roameth at night in the clear moonlight 

 O'er silvery lake and verdant mead. 

 She chooseth right well 



Her tiny bower ; 

 Her house is the bell 

 Of a cowslip flower ; 

 Or she rocks her to rest in the dewy rose, 

 When the gentle gale from the sweet south blows." 



March, 1866. 

 " Here we are again ! " to quote the simple words 

 with which the inimitable Wright used nightly on his 

 appearance to convulse the audience — as a bad penny 

 returned. The fact is, that since the time when last 

 we met, " I have been roaming," not only " where the 

 meadow dew is sweet," "but I'm coming, and I'm 

 coming " with the sawdust on my feet. What a lesson 

 this is to one not to procrastinate ! It seems but 

 yesterday that I wrote, and it is four full months since. 



