The full-blown Spring thro' all her foliage shrinks,
Joyless and dead, a wide dejected waste.
For oft, engend❜red by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp

Keen in the poison'd breeze; and wasteful eat
Thro' buds and bark, into the blacken'd core

Their eager way.

THOMSON.

A cold and windy May is, however, accounted favourable to the corn, which, if brought forward by early warm weather, is apt to run into stalk, while its ears remain thin and light.

The first of May is the general time for turning out cattle into the pastures, though frequently then very bare of grass. The milk soon becomes more copious, and of finer quality, from the juices in the young grass; and it is in this month that the making of cheeses is usually begun in the dairies.

The gardens now yield an agreeable, though immature product, in the young gooseberries and currants, which are highly acceptable to our tables, now almost exhausted of their store of preserved fruits.

The leafing of trees is commonly completed in this month. It begins with the aquatic kinds, such as willow, poplar, and alder; and ends with the oak, beech, and ash. These are sometimes very thin of foliage even at the close of May.

Among the numerous wild flowers, none attracts more notice than the cowslip,

Whose bashful flowers

Declining, hide their beauty from the sun,
Nor give their spotted bosoms to the gaze
Of hasty passenger.

On hedge banks, the wild germander, of a fine azure blue, is conspicuous; and the whole surface of meadows is often covered with the yellow crowfoot. These flowers are also called buttercups, and are supposed by some to give the butter its rich yellow tinge at this season; but falsely, as the cows will not touch it, on account of its biting quality.

Birds hatch and rear their young principally during this month. The patience and assiduity of the female during the task of sitting is admirable; as well as the conjugal affection of the male, who sings to his mate, and often supplies her place; and nothing can exceed the paternal tenderness of both, when the young are brought to light.

Towards the end of May, the bee-hives send forth their earlier swarms. These colonies consist of the young progeny, now grown too numerous to remain in their parent habitation, and sufficiently strong and vigorous to provide for themselves. One queen bee is necessary to form each colony, and wherever she flies, they follow. Nature directs them to march in a body in quest of a new settlement, which, if left to

their choice, would generally be some hollow trunk of a tree. But man, who converts the labours and instincts of so many animals to his own use, provides them with a more secure dwelling, and repays himself with their honey. The early swarms are generally the most valuable, as they have time enough to lay in a plentiful store of honey for their subsistence against the Winter.

This month is not a very busy season for the farmer. Some sowing remains to be done in late years; and in forward ones, the weeds which spring up abundantly both in fields and gardens, require to be kept under. The husbandman now looks forward with anxious hope to the reward of his industry—

Be gracious, Heaven! for now laborious man
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow!
Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend!
And temper all, thou world-reviving sun,
Into the perfect year!

THOMSON,

JUNE.

Now genial suns and gentle breezes reign,
And Summer's fairest splendours deck the plain,
Exulting Flora views her new-born rose,

And all the ground with short-liv'd beauty glows.

JUNE is really, in this climate, what the poets represent May to be the most lovely month of the year. Summer is commenced, and warm weather thoroughly established, yet the heats rarely arise to excess, or interrupt the enjoyment of those pleasures, which the scenes of Nature now afford. The trees are in their fullest dress; and a profusion of the gayest flowers is every where scattered around, which put on all their beauty before they are cut down by the scythe, or withered by the heat.

Soft copious showers are extremely welcome towards the beginning of this month, to forward the growth of the herbage. Such a one is thus described by THOMSON--

Gradual sinks the breeze

Into a perfect calm; that not a breath

Is heard to quiver through the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves
Of aspen tall,

At last

The clouds consign their treasures to the fields;

And lofty shaking on the dimpled pool
Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow,
In large effusion, o'er the freshened world.
The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard,
By such as wander through the forest walks,
Beneath th' umbrageous multitude of leaves.
But who can hold the shade, while Heaven descends
In universal bounty, shedding herbs,

And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap?

One of the earliest rural employments of this month is the shearing of the sheep; a business of much importance in various parts of the kingdom, where wool is one of the most valuable products. England has for many ages been famous for its breeds of sheep, which yield wool of various qualities, suited to different branches of the woollen manufactory. The downs of Dorsetshire, and other southern and western counties, feed sheep whose fine short fleeces are employed in making the best broad cloths. The coarser wool of Yorkshire, and the northern counties, is used in the narrow cloths. The large Leicestershire and Lincolnshire sheep are clothed with long thick flakes, proper for the hosier's use: and every other kind is valuable for some particular purpose.

The season for sheep-shearing commences as soon as the warm weather is so far settled, that the sheep may without danger lay aside great part of their clothing. The following tokens are given by DYER in his Fleece, to mark out the time—