COUNTRY LIFE
WE may regret the esthetic degeneration of the farm under mechanisation. but some of the more modern methods are at least interesting. For example: the making of silage was begun about a month ago on one most scientific farm ; and this is the way it was done. A pit or trench was dug, about 12 feet broad and of considerable length and the earth made into a wall at the sides. A cut-and-lift machine in one process con- veyed the young growth, the seeds, to this hollowed corridor, there decanting it. At first the passage of the tractor was on a concave course, at the end sharply convex. When this long earthern silo was full it wa, covered over with earth and straw. Last year by a happy experiment i stack was put on the top which both exerted the desired pressure and was a more than efficient roofing ; and in the result it was decided that the silage in this earthen corridor was superior to the product in the more orthodox silos. There is no doubt at all that the great increase in the use of silos (which are of infinite variety) is an addition to wealth. The weather is short circuited, and though Bottom's claim still holds- " good hay, sweet hay hath no fellow "—silage is an excellent form of fodder, especially if it has been fortified by a dose of molasses.
Birds and Tigers
A young English officer, who has migrated from the Home Counties to Burma, has made acquaintance with an old naturalist who has specialised
in jungle craft ; and one theory or practice of his seems to me and his young friend of peculiar interest. The old forester has so perfected his skill in imitating jungle languages, especially the chatter of monkeys and cries and songs of birds that he can summon the animals to his neigh- bourhood. This has been done by many people, and many instruments have been made, especially I believe in America, which will produce sounds sufficiently accurate to deceive the birds ; but this Burma naturalist has gone a step further, or it is thought that he has. In his view the language of one species of animal is understood or half-understood by others, as if it were a dialect or kindred tongue. Mammals may note and interpret the calls of birds. By working on this supposition the old naturalist has summoned even tigers ; and though these animals, being cats, prefer to walk their lone lam, he has been able to photograph seven of them in a jungle group. The idea behind these successes is fascinating, a serious development of the old jest that you could attract squirrels by making a noise like a turnip!
The Hard Day " " Now it may be told." The frosts, up to thirteen degrees, that fell on the country in the first week of May were the most devastating known for years. Not only was all fruit blossom cut to the death, but solidly formed fruit dropped from the trees and bushes. If you shook, for example, a twig of gooseberry, there was a shower of shrivelled fruit. The tops of early potatoes were as black as if they had been burnt by fire. The worst sufferers perhaps were the southern counties ; and once again—at least in my experience in a less severely punished district—the upper orchards were almost immune while the dry valleys or scoops, that is the places where the cold air lay -undisturbed, were devastated. In one most charming garden, situated in a dip, not a blossom was left on a number of wistaria bushes, though they were close against the house and well protected from East and North. The frosts fell a week before the festival of the three Ice Saints ; and in answer to queries I may be forgiven for repeating their identity. "" Pancratius, Servatius and Boni- facius, whose names stand in the Roman Catholic calendar against the 12th, 13th and 14th of May, have popularly been called Eismiinner' in Southern Germany and Austria. They have received this nickname on account of the fall of temperature which takes place every year about the middle of May, the cause of which is not yet fully explained." Do the weather experts accept that word " every "? and has the cause been even partially explained?
In My Garden •
My experience of recent frosts is that-" continuous cloches " are of little use, unless they are continuous or carefully blocked at the ends. A single cloche put over the one potato that was up, entirely failed to protect it. Tomatoes under a line of cloches were cut only at one end left unblocked. It is a good plan at this date to earth over one small corner of the compost heap and set there pumpkin, marrow or squash. It will grow most rampantly. On one full and levelled compost pit I once grew mushrooms with some success, but a covering of soil is necessary. Among flowering shrubs the brooms, which are early and floriferous, show a distinction I have not noticed before. A bough of cytisus lasted a long time in water, but a genista withered at once.
W. BEAC:H THOMAS.
Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, id.
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