COUNTRY LIFE

Winter Health A wave of good health has come over many parts of the country "in a flood," like reformation over Henry V. The doctors in country, if not in town, are out of work, among the casuals, if not the unemployed. To the surgery of our country doctor usually gather each morning a good score. sometimes two score, of the poor patients. It was an event last week when one old man appeared ; and he came to get a document signed. There is no influenza, there are not even colds. The winds have boxed the compass, and frost and , warmth have followed in quick succession ; but no one is the worse. Everyone,' it seems, is the better. What is the reason ? Is it accident ? There are some who say that rain and full rivers are the best agents of health, as dry East winds are the agents of malady. It would be interesting to know what medical statisticians have to say. Most villagers have a rooted belief that what is most healthy is a good frost. It benefits the ground. It benefits the bees, and other hiber- nators, and it gives energy to man. An "old-fashioned Christmas is quite definitely desired ; but the institution came to an end in 1895, and our climate has never quite recovered from the next twenty years of warm winters.

Christmas Robins.

The bird of Christmas as well as the berry of Christmas seems to be in unusual force this year's end. Tales of robins that have made themselves into household pets become com- monplace. In one Oxford house it has been thought necessary even to discourage the robin from its excessive fondness for the house. It began by sharing his dinner with the dog. which is a very fastidious red setter, who rejoiced to have someone to help him with his meal. This was the introduc- tion. Later, when it became necessary to cover the backs of drawing-room chairs with rough cloth because they had become a regular perch, the householder rebelled. The robin is still a frienof the dog, but feels that its welcome within the house is not encouraging. Robins have perhaps multi- plied, thanks, it may be, to open winters. It is possible, too, that they have been increased by immigration. The last time we had a severe winter frost of any duration a host of robins arrived on our Eastern coast ; and we may suppose that a bird of such a stay-at-home disposition did not make the return journey. The strange movement was not a migra- tion proper, being of the nature of a forced trek.

Sleeping Postures

A nursery rhyme tells us that . the robin suffers greatly from cold and snow, but apparently it does not adopt the resource suggested by the poet. After a considerable con- troversy, waged not without heat, the argument has definitely come down on the side of those who maintain that birds do not put their heads under their wings, poor -things, however cold it may be. The people who keep birds in cages appear to be in complete agreement that their birds when roosting at night often tuck their heads under the outer feathers of the wing, but never under the main structure of the wing. This is certainly the habit of canaries.

Coral Berries

Whether robins are more numerous, and therefore made more bold by competition for food, is a moot point. There is no doubt that their opposite number in the botanical world is enjoying a bumper season : the hollies beacon from afar, and so far remain almost intact ; but it is always a question whether the birds will or will not anticipate Christmas. It is not a favourite berry with birds, but when the plunge is taken the trees are often cleared to a berry, especially by lieldfare flocks, and fieldfares have come down from the North in good numbers and were earlier. than usual. Birds have their individual tastes. One of my earliest memories, of bird observation is the sight of missel thrushes clearing a row of Japanese yews of every vestige of its pink fruit. They persuaded youth to imitation, and he found the pulp very palatable. yet the yew is full of poison and the green 'centre of the odd-shaped berry said to contain a .full dose.. The berries of a much more poisonous type of, plant, the nightshades, are great favourites of the pheasant, but, . so:

far as 1 know, not of other birds. The woody nightshade, which they prefer, is a plant that, like elder, seems to have a special affinity with waste ground. It flourishes on clumps of London rubbish and its red berries are an irresistible lure to pheasants., The buttercups again are a poisonous tribe, some—the celery-leafed buttercup, for example—contain a very deadly poison. Of the commonest species the wood- pigeon is peculiarly fond of the dried seed and the pheasants will eat the bulbous root, if it is close to the surface, as on a well-rolled lawn or grass path.'

• * * * Holly Secrets

Every garden should have its hollies. No leaf is, so lovely when the hoar frost rims its quaint outlines, birds delight to nest in it, and no berries are more graciously set off by the green, and sometimes bluish-looking leaves, yet it is shunned by many gardeners because of its rather difficult nature. Yet it is peculiarly hardy, if its ways are understood, and grows fast and well in rough and heavy soils. The per- centage of seeds that germinate is high, though this is not their reputation for the reason that they dawdle. Nothing obvious happens for a good eighteen or twenty months. Then they are difficult to transplant.. A late spring date and plenty of water are the secrets. Again how many people have bought hollies that refused to berry ! Now the male holly is a beautiful bush in flowering time ; and is greatly beloved of bees ; but being male it does not of .course bear fruit, and all who buy hollies should specify that both sorts are sent, the female or berry-bearing sorts, and the male. I find in very deep digging the secret of quick growth.

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Market Thieves It is lucky that the holly endures hard pruning bravely, as anyone who has a holly hedge knows. How . Evelyn rejoiced in this quality ! It is most -ruthlessly cut on any more accessible site near a big town. The lorries go forth from London to a radius of forty miles or more and cut any berried branch they see. The cornelyi central apex of a young tree will fetch as much as ,fifteen shillings, and a good deal is cut without permission and to the grief of the owner and his .neighbours. The urban 'shears devastate where the country pickers of sprigs leave no-obvious mark ; but nowadays a good many landowners do a deal with the urban sellers. Of two landowners of my acquaintance one Is wont to say that the only thing which pays on his estate is the holly ; the other that his only dividend comes from the sale of pheasants !

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The Frog's Enemies , A curious note on a frog mystery, mentioned here the other day, comes from a correspondent with Indian experiences. The bole of a tree in Buckinghamshire was found half filled with decapitated frogs ; and the query was, who ,did the deadly work ! A somewhat similar deed M India was traced to bats, of all animals. In a particular bungalow great care had to be taken to close windows and doors because the bats insisted on depositing the reputed legs of frogs. The frog has many enemies in .England : heron, duck, pike, otter, dog and rat. I have known them to be killed even by hens ; which have strange bouts of carnivorous savagery. They will, for example, surround a cornstack that is being threshed and kill the escaping mice. Whatever other enemies of the frog may be added to the list, one would scarcely dream of including bats of any species. Different countries, different manners. Perhaps the Indian frogs were tree frogs.

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Garden Instruction . A good example of the vogue of illustration is the latest, the nineteenth, edition of that most practical of all garden books, Suttons'. Culture of Vegetables and Flowers from Seed and Roots (Simpkin Marshall, 68. 6d.). The frontispiece makes the " potager " only less attractive to the eye than the flower garden ; and, indeed, the two may be very fruitfully combined. With this book and, say, Mr. Osborn's Shrubs and Trees for the Garden (Ward, Lock) the severely practical gardener has a wide mecum indeed. W. BEacn THOMAS.