uite
close to the ground. When they swarm in a tree you would think a black
snow-storm was raging all around it. Every moment the cluster of bees
grows larger and larger, until, after half an hour or so, it is quiet.
Then the swarm has to be taken. This is the most interesting part, but
you must be careful not to be too near in case an accident occurs and
the bees become enraged and sting you.

If the farmer has the new wooden hives with a glass covering he will
very likely let you peep in and see the bees at work. Before doing
this you certainly ought to read something about their exceedingly
wonderful ways. One of the best books is Sir John Lubbock's (Lord
Avebury's) _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, but most encyclopaedias contain
very interesting articles on the subject.

The Cows

The man who looks after the cows is a very valuable friend. He may
even let you try to milk, which only specially gifted children ever
succeed in doing at all well; and he will teach you the cows' names
(in some farms these are painted up over each stall--Primrose,
Lightfoot, Sweetlips, Clover, and so on); and perhaps he will give you
the task of fetching them from the meadow at milking time.

Sheep

In a general way sheep are not very interesting, especially in
low-lying farms. But though sheep, as a rule, are dull, there are two
occasions when they are not--at sheep-washing and sheep-shearing. The
washers stand up to their knees, or even their waists, in the brook,
in oilskin clothes, and seizing the struggling sheep one by one by the
wool, plunge them into the water. Shearing is a finer art; but the
sheep is hardly less uncomfortable. He has to be thrown into various
positions (on his back for one, and with his head between the
shearer's knees for another), while the shears clip-clop all over him.
The wool is not taken off in scraps, as our hair is at the barber's,
but the whole fleece is removed in one huge piece.

The Blacksmith

It may be that while you are at the farm the day will come for having
the horses shod, and you may go with them to the blacksmith. The
blacksmith is of course a very important person to be friends with;
and people are very fortunate if their lodgings in the country are
close to a smithy. Some blacksmiths permit their friends to stand
right inside the smithy, instead of just at the door, where strangers
have to stay. Perhaps the blacksmith will ask you to blow his bellows
while he is making a horseshoe