If there is no greenhouse, or “heat,” half hardy annuals may be sown out in the open garden towards the end of April, and if diligently cared for they will grow well and thrive.
After a warm day, evergreens are benefited by syringing. Ivy that is wished to grow close should be clipped all over; and grass should be cut about once a week, and often rolled. It should not be allowed to get long before cutting the first time, or it will be troublesome to get into order again.
April is the month in which we welcome most of our spring bird visitors. The nightingale and cuckoo have already come and begun their song; the swallow and house-martin will arrive about the middle of the month, and are soon busy making new nests, or patching up old ones. The whitethroat appears towards the end of the month.
During the April showers the whole air seems full of song. Walking through woods ringing with bird music, we are once more reminded of the problem which so puzzled Daines Barrington. “Do the birds all sing in one key? And if not, why do the songs harmonise instead of producing unpleasant discords?” Perhaps it is the distance which lends enchantment and softens the discords. No doubt if all the songsters were in one room, the result would not be quite so happy.
Many eggs, larvæ and cocoons of butterflies and moths may be found this month among heaps of dry leaves, on low bushes, or trunks of trees. Grasses and rushes shelter several of the early species, which are already flying about, and some rare insects may be found now which cannot be obtained later in the season.
THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
OR,
THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.
By EMMA BREWER.
CHAPTER VI.
It is a true saying, that when mothers begin to talk of their children they never know when to stop; and the children, who might otherwise have found favour, are thereby made to appear as uninteresting and vexatious bores.
I will try to avoid falling into this error, and only tell you enough to enable you to understand the peculiarities of mine.