264 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
( CEstrus Ovis ) ; and the Horse Gad-fly ( Gastrus Equi) 
is quite common. In hoeing potatoes lately^ I laid bare a 
curious scene of domestic economy. It was a Humble-bees' 
nest, about an inch below the surface of the earthy and con- 
tained two bunches of yellowish oval sacs, each containing a 
pupa ; about a dozen in all. Twenty or more bees of dif- 
ferent size and appearance, but I suppose all of the same 
species ( Bombus Terricola ? J, flew about^ very much 
alarmed at the destruction of their household. 
F, — All our neighbours are now very busy ; it is the 
height of the haymaking season^ one of the most cheering and 
pleasing, but one of the most laborious of agricultural occupa- 
tions. It is a fine morning for the mowers ; the grass is cut 
with far greater ease while wet with dew than in the heat 
of the day. Our usual plan is to mow till about nine or ten 
o'clock in the forenoon, then spread and turn it : and if the 
day be fine, so hot is our sun, that in the afternoon the hay 
is ready to go to the barn or stack. Let us walk into the field 
among the mowers. 
C. — There is the whetting of the scythe : what a pecu- 
liarly rural sound that is ! how connected with pleasant 
fields, snug cottages, merry peasants, and bright skies. 
How beautifully smooth and green the closely shaven 
meadow looks, from which the hay has been cut and raked : 
very different from the pasture, where many brown heads 
and coarse tufts and rank weeds destroy the uniformity of 
the appearance. 
F. — The short young grass which escapes the scythe, is 
very agreeable to cattle, and we always turn our stock into 
the fields immediately after mowing ; a practice which I 
believe does not so generally prevail in England, where the 
ground is usually so level and smooth, that the scythe goes 
very close to the surface. In our rough fields, much grass is 
left in the hollows, and about stones, stumps^ &c. which the 
scythe cannot reach. 
