COUNTRY LIFE

Wheat and the• Crown Imperial

The favourite flower of the cottage garden since the days of Elizabeth has been the Crown Imperial ; and it has gathered about it a certain amount of folk-lore. This spring the flower, which is just out, after growing at a quite fantastic rate, is in singular perfection ; and it varies from season to season in the number of its petals. The country people of the Cotswolds have a saying, almost a belief, that if the flower has six petals wheat will be six shillings a bushel, if five five. In my garden the bronze red variety is flowering earlier and in finer form than the yellow ; and its petals number six. Well, wheat is a very fair price for these days and may keep up. In the Argentine the maize crop is the biggest ever known in history, partly for the reason that drought made the sowing of wheat impossible, and the later sown maize took its place. So it may be that the Cotswold superstition will be for once justified in spirit if not quite literally. It may be worth adding a note that our phenolo- gists who claim to be men of science recommend that barley should be sown at the date of the flowering of the blackthorn.

A Glow-worm's Inspiration • Research workers in physiology are thought by Conte to be on the edge of a great advance, resulting from the analysis of electric currents produced in the human body. The subject has been illuminated, if not inspired, by the glow- worm and the fire-fly. Now the larger fire-fly--most brilliant addition to the charms of a tropical night in Brazil or the Argentine—carries two bright discs over the eyes ; others give out a light so strong that you are able to read by their light in a darkened room. I recently caught specimens of both sorts of .fire-fly and was utterly amazed by the power of the rays. It is found that this light, as in the glow-worm. is produced with marvellous efficiency. I have no sort of notion hilw such a test can be made, but I am told by the specialists, that over 95 per cent. of the energy exerted is expressed in the form of light. Enquiry into the methods by which this miracle is wrought is helping to- penetrate a new secret (so it is told me) in the use of electricity in thera- peutics. I suppose that the secret of the insects is the ex- pression of electrical energy in full light without wastage in the form of heat.

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Friendly Robins

The garden robin is said to be one of the many birds that insist on a territory. It will not permit another to nest, or even forage; within its sphere of influence. Is this so ? Within a garden where birds arc very welcome and very much at home, I saw 'the other day two nests almost cheek by jowl, inside an open shed. Last year there were two nests —in ivy on the wall—within a few yards of one another. The robins came. freely into the house, on to the breakfast table in search of butter or- occasionally to the neighbourhood of a gas stove where they warm themselves, half opening their wings in luxurious appreciation of the glow. Doubtless they quarrel ; and it is roundly alleged that one bird routed from the dining-room resorted thereafter to the kitchen. However that may be, there is little doubt that the friendliness of the place has banished or lessened the territorial greed that is said to be a mark of this most pugnacious species.

In this garden the wrens as well as the robins have antici- pated the thrushes and the blackbirds, but a wood pigeon, nesting in a fir, has anticipated them all.

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Which Starling?

A public controversy on those harpies of' the bird-table, the starlings, seems to have taken a wrong turn. It is not a question of two species or even two quite distinct varieties with different names.- We see in the fields and even at the bird-table birds that belong to Britain and stay in it ; and birds that come over for the winter season and behave much like other migrants, say, the fieldfare or the redwing. The continental migrants are apt to differ in coloration. Even the continental robins (which migrate to England occa- sionally and in flocks in certain sorts of weather) can be distinguished by their colour from the home-bred birds.

It is, I think, undoubted that the continental starling (several have been found on English farms with Scandinavian rings on their legs) are duller and browner in appearance than is or was the very metallic English bird. How far the migrants are true migrants, whether some stay and cross with the home birds, it is difficult to know. The two doubtless flock together as will finches even of several distinct species. It is peculiarly difficult to be sure of the colouring of a starling owing to the vast difference made by the angle of the light on feathers whose coloration is prismatic rather than chemical. Which sort of starling is the greedier cannot be determined, for all appear to reach the maximum in this regard, especially if anything fatty is within reach.

A Homing Finch The other day some reference was made to the island of Skokholm, now a famous bird observatory. The author of Dream Island, who made Skokhohn famous, has descended on London and written the latest of " the bird lovers' manuals " on Birds of the Green Belt (Witherby, 5s.). 13y a curious chance I opened the book at a drawing of the fruit of the hornbeam (favourite food of the hawfinch) and recognised a sprig that came front a hedgerow at the foot of my own garden. He had experienced some difficulty in finding a good pendant spray and my most floriferous tree supplied the deficiency. On the page next it, is a telling example of the fondness of birds, especially finches, for their particular home and feeding ground. Mr. Loekley carried off a greenfinch to a distance of five miles and found that the bird was back home before he was, though he returned direct. There was the ringed finch, hungry as ever, at the feeding cage 1 The manual is altogether charming, fresh in manner, full of personal observation and illustrated very freely, with an imaginative touch. Thuty fa know British Birds, with coloured pieturcs of many birds, is another manual in the smile series ; and a very useful one.

April Annuals

Catalogues arrive suggesting that April is the last month for sowing hardy annuals ; and, if it has been put off so long, an answer must be found for the question, " which annuals Y " They arc the natural successors to the wallflowers and the bulbs. After last year's experience, when it flowered profusely for a very long period, the golden glow nasturtium seems to be one imperative choice. It is bright, sweet, floriferous, and of a delightful tint ; and it can be picked. It has a scarlet brother. The best of all annuals for picking (setting aside the sweet peas which, of course, remain an essential) is the elarkia, both because its buds come out in water and because it grows so big. It is as good for picking as the coreopsis (one of the most valuable plants for the rough border in its perennial form) is bad. The most prevalent fashion of the year is the massing of the newer pink and mauve asters. Swan River daisies, in both pale and dark blue, become rightly popular. It is perhaps often forgotten by small gardeners that May or even June are also sowing months in both vegetable and flower garden. Nothing has added more value to the "potager" than Messrs. Sutton's War-time advice to sow certain vegetables late in the year as well as early. The late- sown carrots arc quite invaluable and have the advantage of avoiding the special enemies of the plant, which have ceased to be grubs by Midsummer Day.

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First Appearances This spring's record of migrant birds goes to prove the affection of several species for the west coast route. For myself I heard my first chili-chaff at Hampton Court. Wheat- ears were seen early in Hampshire, and a redstart at Barnet is reported in The Field. The willow warbler often makes an early appearance at Hampstead. The swallow tribe, on the other hand, are often seen quite far north in the west before they are recorded on the eastern side of England. Some of the earliest this spring were recorded in Somerset. " The March cuckoo," about which many observers are sceptical, has been reported, but proof still lags a little. It unfortunately resembles a hawk in appearance, and has a voice that anyone can imitate.

BEACU 'Mosul%