66 August. 
days. Julius Caesar, in reforming the Calendar, gave 
it thirty days ; but, after his death, Augustus Caesar 
conferred on it his own name, and, taking a day from 
February gave August thenceforth thirty-one days. 
Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers called it Arn-monat , 
Barn Month, from the filling of barns, am signifying 
harvest. 
In addition to the wheat, oats, and barley, which are 
harvested this month, the hops are now gathered. In 
the English counties in which hops flourish, the hop¬ 
gardens present a picture which may well rival for 
landscape beauty the vineyards of Italy itself. Yet, 
with all this beauty, we feel that the year is declining 
—nearly all the lovely flowers which charmed us in 
Spring and Summer are gone. We notice many 
changes on every side. Though we may observe a 
sort of second spring in the young shoots from many 
of the trees and bushes, and may still see pretty 
flowers, such as the red poppy or ox-eye daisy in the 
fields, or woodbine in the hedges, we cannot but be 
reminded that the year is drawing to a close, and that 
ere long we shall have weary Winter back again. 
