The domestic cattle now require all the care and protection of the farmer. Sheep are often lost in the sudden storms by which the snow is drifted in the hollows, so as to bury them a great depth beneath it. Yet they have been known to survive many days in this situation. Cows with much ado scratch up a few mouthfuls of grass; but for their chief subsistence they must depend upon the hay and other provisions of the farm-yard. Early lambs and calves are kept within doors, and tended with as much care as the farmers own children.

Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind,
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens
With food at will; lodge them below the storm,
And watch them strict; for from the bellowing east,
In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains
At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks,
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,
The billowy tempest whelms; 'till upward urg'd,
The valley to a shining mountain swells,
Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the sky.

THOMSON.

The plants at this season are provided by Nature with a kind of Winter-quarters, which secure them from the effects of cold. Those called herbaceous, which die down to the root every Autumn, are now safely concealed under ground, preparing their new shoots to burst forth when the earth is softened by Spring. Shrubs and trees, which are exposed to the open air, have all their soft and tender parts closely wrapt up in buds, which by their firmness

resist all the force of frost. If one of these buds be carefully opened, it is found to consist of young leaves rolled together, within which are even all the blossoms in miniature, which are afterwards to adorn the Spring. Some of these are much forwarder than others. The leaves of the woodbine appear just ready to expand by the end of the month; the flowers of the mezereon and snowdrop seem on the point of blowing; and the catkin, or male flowerbunch of the hazel begins to unfold.

During the severity of the frost, little work can be done out of doors by the husbandman. As soon as it sets in, he takes the opportunity of the hardness of the ground to draw manure to his fields. He lops and cuts timber, and mends thorn hedges. When the roads become smooth from the frozen snow, he takes his team, and carries hay and corn to market, or brings coals for himself and neighbours. The barn resounds with the flail, by the use of which the labourer is enabled to defy the cold weather.

In towns, the poor are pinched for fewel and food, and charity is peculiarly called for at this comfortless time of the year. Many trades are at a stand during the severity of the frost. Rivers and canals being frozen up, watermen und bargemen are without employment. The harbours in this island, however, are never locked up by the ice, as they are for many months in the northern parts of Europe.

The amusements of sliding, skating, and other pastimes on the ice, give life to this dreary season; but our frosts are not continued and steady enough to afford us such a share of these diversions as some other nations enjoy

Where the Rhine

Branch'd out in many a long canal extends,
From every province swarming, void of care,
Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep,
On sounding skates, a thousand different ways,
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along
The then guy land is maddened all to joy.
Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow,
Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds,
Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel
The long-resounding course. Mean-time, to raise
The manly strife, with highly blooming charms,
Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's dames,
Or Russia's buxom daughters glow around.

THOMSON.

FEBRUARY.

Now shifting gales with milder influence blow,
Cloud o'er the skies, and melt the falling snow;
The soften'd earth with fertile moisture teems,

And, freed from icy bonds, down rush the swelling streams.

THE earlier part of this month may still be reckoned Winter; though the cold generally begins to abate. The days are now sensibly lengthened; and the sun has power enough gradually to melt away the snow and ice. Sometimes a sudden thaw comes on, with a south wind and rain, which all at once dissolves the snow. Torrents of water then descend from the hills; every little brook and rill is swelled to a large stream; and the ice is swept away with great violence from the rivers

Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point,
Blow hollow blustering from the south. Subdued,
The frost resolves into a trickling thaw.
Spotted the mountains shine, loose sleet descends,
And floods the country round. The rivers swell,
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills,
O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts,
A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once;
And, where they rush, the wide resounding plain
Is left one slimy waste.

THOMSON.

The frost, however, returns for a time; then fresh snow falls, often in great quantities; and thus the

weather alternately changes during most part of this month.

Various signs of returning Spring occur at different times in February. The woodlark, one of the earliest and sweetest songsters, often begins his note at the very entrance of the month. Not long after rooks begin to pair, and geese to lay. The thrush and chaffinch then add to the early music of the groves. Near the close of the month partridges begin to couple, and repair the ravages commited on this devoted species during the Autumn and Winter.

Moles go to work in throwing up their hillocks as soon as the earth is softened. Under some of the largest, a little below the surface of the earth, they make their nests of moss, in which four or five young are found at a time. These animals live on worms, insects, and the roots of plants. They do much mischief in gardens, by loosening and devouring flower roots; but in the fields they seem to do no other damage, than rendering the surface of the ground unequal by their hillocks, which obstruct the scythe in mowing. They are said also to pierce the sides of dams and canals, and let out the water.

Many plants emerge from under ground in February, but few flowers as yet adorn the fields or gardens. Snowdrops generally are fully opened from the beginning of the month, often peeping out from the midst of the snow