THE UPLANDS IN WINTER 127 



In a wind the musical tinkling of many ice- 

 covered branches, and the jingle of falling pieces 

 of ice is a pleasant sound, but one grieves at the 

 breaking of twigs and the sharp reports and crash- 

 ing of branches that snap without bending in 

 their icy armor. The snow becomes covered with 

 broken twigs and branches and with splinters of 

 ice and molds of the branches an inch or more 

 thick, all sparkling in the sunlight. Progress by 

 walking through a field of tall grass and weeds, 

 thus bedecked with ice, is attended with much 

 crashing and musical jingling as the ice is broken 

 from the stems and flung on the icy crust. The 

 ice-storm of December 1921, which did such 

 grievous injury to trees a few miles inland, was 

 innocuous at Ipswich. 



In the severe winter of 1919-20 the meadow- 

 mice and cottontail rabbits were hard put to it 

 for food and played havoc with young trees. 

 The devastation in young orchards was particu- 

 larly severe and many thousands of apple, pear 

 and other fruit trees were ruined. It is custom- 

 ary to protect the lower foot or two of \oung 

 orchard trees with wire netting or roofing paper, 



