THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 309 



other forms of litter, seems to have risen to a premium ; 

 else while the animals repose on the supply of this stuff 

 which larch and the fir-tree tribe generally yield they 

 keep completely clear of this nuisance. The smell of 

 turpentine don't suit them ; it either drives them next 

 door, as the smell of puss sends the mice, or it doubles 

 them up to die as they inhale it. 



It is very sad to see how the starlings perished every- 

 where during the hard weather. Down upon the flower- 

 beds under the rain-spouts, or amidst the straw in the 

 lofts, they turn up everywhere, seeming to have suffered 

 more than any other bird that flies. We shall still 

 have enough left I hope to comb the sheep's backs and 

 gurgle their all-absorbing love-song upon the roof-ridge. 

 Only in one instance do I quarrel with them, and that 

 is, when they will greedily try to get possession of a hole 

 in a willow tree upon the lawn, which our household 

 regards as the sacred property of the nuthatch. But 

 they soon take the hint that they are not wanted there. 

 Let them only be caught once or twice in a horsehair 

 noose, and after a fright be released, they will straightway 

 cease to annoy. Blessed spring, with the tuneful birds' 

 songs and the sweet-scented bursting buds, how soon it 

 will be bursting upon us now. Oh ! that it may infuse a 

 softening influence into the hard Teutonic breast, while 

 it re-inspires with hope and energy to repair her places of 

 spoilt loveliness the too sadly crushed capital of France ! 



The good old-fashioned winter we have gone through 

 has enabled us to comprehend how much we are indebted 

 to the frost for an increase of soil upon our fields, where 

 the ploughing has been done in due time. The up- 

 turned subsoil, with its occasional flakes of rock, instead 

 of being hard and harsh, lies now in lumps of finest 



