152 AUGUST 



worth ; and the fowls being gradually, slily, hidden 

 in pies, my farmyard has now come to an end. 



In nature here in this country, the mild, benign 

 influences are few, compared to the vicious, ma- 

 levolent ones that have to be so strenuously fought 

 against. This is exemplified in the lawn grass. At 

 first we laid down the fine kind known as " doob " 

 grass, by dibbling in' little bunches 4 inches apart ; 

 such a long business. It grew, was rolled and cut, 

 rolled and cut, and looked very nice for six months. 

 Then in crept weeds. These were pulled up. Still 

 more grew, and coarse grass, which gradually has 

 ousted every particle of "doob" that was ever 

 there. Still when well rolled and cut in the cold 

 weather, it looks good enough. It is now that it is 

 such a trouble, for in July and August it throws up 

 reeds that no machine will ever cut, and the whole 

 place is like a hay field. Three men sit down to 

 pull up these weeds by hand ; when they have 

 cleared a space they go over it with the machine, 

 and these three men can do nothing else for weeks ; 

 for directly they have come to the end of the lawns 

 they have to begin at the beginning, all over again. 

 As I look at them from the verandah, I see that 



