are increasing in size, and ripening upon the bough. The very hazel has
a pleasant sound--not a nut-tree hedge existed in the neighbourhood that
we did not know and visit. We noted the progress of the bushes from the
earliest spring, and the catkins to the perfect nut.

There are threads of brilliant scarlet upon the hazel in February,
though the gloom of winter lingers and the 'Shuck--a--sheck!' of the
fieldfare fleeing before the snow sounds overhead. On the slender
branches grow green ovals, from whose tips tiny scarlet plumes rise and
curl over.

It often happens that while the tall rods with speckled bark grow
vigorously the stole is hollow and decaying when the hardy fern
flourishes around it. Before the summer ricks are all carted the nuts
are full of sweet milky matter, and the shell begins to harden. A hazel
bough with a good crook is then sought by the men that are thinking of
the wheat harvest: they trim it for a 'vagging' stick, with which to
pull the straw towards them. True reaping is now never seen: 'vagging'
makes the short stubble that forces the partridges into the turnips.
Maple boughs, whose bark is so strongly ribbed, are also good for
'vagging' sticks.

Nut-tree is used for bonds to tie up faggots, and split for the
shepherds' hurdles. In winter sometimes a store of nuts and acorns may
be seen fallen in a stream down the side of a bank, scratched out from a
mouse's hole, as they say, by Reynard, who devours the little provident
creature without regard for its wisdom. So that man and wild animals
derive pleasure or use from the hazel in many ways. When the nuts are
ripe the carters' lads do not care to ride sideways on the broad backs
of the horses as they jog homewards along the lane, but are ever in the