I found untold bushes of the blueberry and huckleberry, also enough cranberries in the swamp to supply our own table and sell some. Wild grape-vines festoon trees by the brooks.
Barberries, a dozen bushes of these which are very decorative, and their fruit if skilfully mixed with raisins make a foreign-tasting and delicious conserve.
We have the otter and mink, and wild ducks winter in our brooks. Large birds like the heron and rail appear but rarely; ugly looking and fierce.
The hateful English sparrow has been so reduced in numbers by sparrow traps that now they keep away and the bluebirds take their own boxes again. The place is a safe and happy haven for hosts of birds.
I have a circle of houses for the martins and swallows and wires connecting them, where a deal of gossip goes on.
The pigeons coo-oo-o on the barn roof and are occasionally utilized in a pie, good too!
GRAND ELM
(OVER TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD)
"I wonder how my great trees are coming on this summer."