JANUARY SECOND. "Janiveer freeze the pot by the fire.”—Old Proverb. "Now have we naturally but few Flowers, except Laureltime, and Snow-drops, but by the help of Hot-beds we may have some single Anemonies, Winter Narcissus's, and Narcissus's of Constantinople, Crocuses, &c., but we have now Lawns, Rose-Leaves, to garnish the Dishes we serve up to Table." . . . So writes M. De la Quintinye in the Compleat Gardner, about 1649. We could note a nobler list nowadays, I trow; for white lilac in pots, Mal-maison carnations, and bulbs bring sweetness and joy into the house. My basins are full of Roman hyacinths, and scillas push their way through their green buds above the moss. Bacon writes: "I doe hold it, in the Royall ordering of Gardens, there ought to be Gardens, for all the Moneths in the Yeare: In which, severally Things of Beautie, may in then in Season. For December, and January, and the Latter Part of November, you must take such Things, as are Greene all Winter: Holly; Ivy; Bayes; Juniper; Cipresse Trees; Eugh; Pine-Apple-Trees; Firre-Trees; Rose-Mary; Lavander; Periwinckle, the White, the Purple, and the Blewe; Germander; Flagges; Orenge Trees; Lemin Trees; And Mirtles; if they be stooved; and Sweet Marioram warme set." How I love his Essay, "Of Gardens." "A woman's mind and winter's wind change oft." JANUARY THIRD.-No one in the country at this time of year can neglect to feed our friends the birds, who do so much to brighten with their song our spring and summer months. The most easily obtained food, and moreover the favourite food of all birds with hard bills, is hemp seed. It is very cheap to buy, and every village shop keeps it. Titmice and nuthatches can have the seed given them in a hanging box or small bucket, and a very pretty sight it is to see "Tom Titty-mouse" clinging to the string on which the bucket hangs, waiting his turn to slide down and pick out the much-loved dainty. The bills of these birds are too slender to allow of their cracking the seed in the same way as a canary or finch would do; so, perching on a twig hard by, they hold the seed in their feet, and hammer it with their bill until the husk is shivered; and if these birds are plentiful the air resounds with constant tappings as if numbers of fairy carpenters were at work. Nuts, too, whether broken into small pieces for the titmice, or uncracked for the nuthatches, are a very attractive food; and lumps of suet and bones are in great request. Other birds, as the chaffinches, which feed on the ground, must have their seed scattered about; nor must we neglect the soft-billed birds-robins, blackbirds, and the like for whom bread crumbs or bits of meat form a good and much-appreciated meal. Much amusement can be afforded by cutting off both ends of a cocoanut, placing it sideways on the ground and running a string through it, which, being pegged down at each end, prevents the nut from rolling away. Starlings and other birds will eat greedily of it. Nor are our ordinary birds the only kind which will attend such a dinner as I have described. In severe cold, when snow covers the ground, many a strange visitor may be seen in our gardens, such as bramble-finches and hawfinches, and they being so rarely seen give us an opportunity of studying their habits, which is worth many a pound of hemp seed. JANUARY FOURTH.-This is Rosemary Day in my Kalendar. "I would be large in commendation of this herb, were I but eloquent," writes Culpepper. An old proverb says "that, where the rosemary bush flourishes in the cottage garden 'the grey mare is the better horse."" I suppose this holds good for other than cottage gardens. It was an old custom to stir a tankard with a sprig of rosemary. At weddings it was usual to dip a sprig in a cup and drink to the health of the new-married pair. It was borne in the hand at weddings. In 1607 these words came into a wedding sermon: "Let this ros marinus, this flower of man, ensign of your wisdom, love, and loyalty, be carried, not only in your hands, but in your heads and hearts." In Lyle's Herbal (1578) is this description : "Rosemary is, as it were, a little tree or wooddish shrubbe, with many small branches and slender boughes, of hard and wooddie substance, covered and set full of little, smal, long, and tender leaves, white on the side next the ground, and greene above. The floures are whitishe, and mixte with a little blewe, the which past there cometh forth small seede. The roote and the stemme are likewise hard and wooddie. The leaves and the floures are of a very strong and pleasant flavour, and good smacke or taste. The oyle of the floures of Rose-mary helpeth the memory.' σε Now is winter and now is sorrow, -CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. |