The Country-Woman's Corner

Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 14

The Country-Woman's Corner

By

clears

(Special fob the Otago Witness.)

SPRING WORK.

One of our great writers has spoken, of “ silly sheep.” The country woman who has to take her turn at going round the paddocks at this time of the year will agree with him that in certain ways, sheep are certainly very silly. And yet' they have wonderful instinct in some directions. The walking and riding, round the ridges and over the tops would be much more difficult and dangerous' were it not for the sheep tracks. Sheep, are the cleverest engineers in the world. Man is glad to form roads on the paths made by the flocks as they went backwards and forwards between the lowland pastures and the higher levels. As we' follow these w’inding tracks we come on many unexpected beauty spots; hidden springs and rocky pools, ferny grottos and fairy waterfalls are to be found in out-of-the-way corners among the hills, and the daily rides or tramps are full of beauty that brings refreshment to mind and heart. Shepherds have ofteq been poets, and although the quiet life of the shepherd of the olden time is not to, be enjoyed in these hustling days, the occupation has much to recommend it tq anyone of a studious or contemplative frame of mind.

Spring is a, happy time, not only on account of the prospect of harvest and fruit, but because of all the happy young, animals that are sporting about. Their comical antics and carefree spirits are a reproach to the superior order of beings who grumble and fret from no cause whatever. The singing of the birds pro; vides a lesson in trust and confidence iq the Great Maker - and Preserver of alj things. Said the robin to the sparrow: " I should dearly love to know How it is that human creatures rush about and worry so." Said the sparrow to the robin, " I think that it must be That they have no heavenly Father such cares for you and me.” Now that the first cares of the season are over and the young stock are happy with their mothers, one cannot help feeling angry with the continued of the damage done to lambs by stray dogs. In some districts farmers are watching the sheep by night as well a$ by day. Those who have dogs should see that they are kept tied up. Sheep-: worrying dogs are very cunning. Ofteq the damage is done by the animal that one would least suspect, and consequently this often leads to ill-feeling and mis= trust between neighbours. The character of the household guardian is at stake, and the suspicion and dislike is likely to extend to all members of the species, A lady missionary, when showing a, Mohammedan costume to a school of small girls, asked the question: “ Why do you think these girls havq to go about like that? What are they afraid of ? ” and was much surprised at the tone in which the answer came:

“ Dogs, I s’pose.” Possibly the small girl had heard or seen some of the mischief that can he wrought by a pack of wild dogs. Those who have much to do with animals soon find that these have each some peculiarity of their own that must be studied. Grown animals are just as comical as young ones. That good “ country gentleman,” Sir Walter Scott, besides being an authority on mediaeval times and customs, was well versed m sport and agriculture, and employs his knowledge in many of his realistic word pictures:

" But how am I to get away from you while you hold me so fast by the arm that I could not get off if the whole year's crop of Scotland depended on it?" “Hark ye, ye gudgeon,” said Goffe. "Just when you come to the water’s edge, and when the fellows are jumping in and taking their oars, slue yourself round suddenly to the larboard —I will let go your arm—then cut and run for your life Goffe’s willing hand relaxed its hold, and the agriculturist trundled off like a football that has just received a strong impetus from the foot of one of the players, and never stopped till he had traversed the whole town and attained the open country on the other side. Those who had seen him that day—his hat and wig lost in the sudden effort he made to bolt forward, his cravat awry, and his waistcoat unbuttoned, compared his method of scouring the streets with his round, spherical form and short legs to that peculiar to his fleecy care, for like a ram in the midst of his race, he ever and anon encouraged himself by a great bouncing attempt at a leap, though there were no obstacles in his way.”

Throughout the whole of the story (“The Pirate”) the author makes fun of this character, whom he names “ the agriculturist ” on account of his fondness for agricultural science. But thoughthere are many farmers past and present who have never been able to combine theory and practice for utility and profit, we are grateful to those ■who have laboured to prevent many of the ills that were once a worry to the farmer in the early spring. Milk fever has been reduced to a minimum, and the management of calves is so taught that they will drink out of a pail straight away, and thus save time and waste of energy. But with our hard times ahead there does not seem any more prospect of wealth for us than for the old-time theorist:

Captain,'-’ said Yellowly stoutly, " I have no money ; seldom can improvers have. We

(urn pasture to tillage, and barley into alts, find" heather into greensward, and the poor ’ yarpa,’ as the benighted creatures here call their peat-bogs, into baittie grass land ; but we seldom make anything out of it that pomes back to our ain pouch. ' The carles pnd the cart-avers make it all, and the carles pnd the cart-avers eat it all, and mischief and trouble clink doun with it."

We are so accustomed to good soil that we cannot realise the trouble that farmers in other countries have in their conflict with a sterile soil, but’in climbing among the hills and rocks, enjoying the views from the tops of mountains, pnd finding beauty in many an unexpected corner, we realise how life among such surroundings engenders a Jove for one’s country that cannot be found in the lowland plains, however rich and fertile they may be.