earth, or gravelly soil on a descent, is preferable to any other.

For the construction of an ice-house, a spot should be selected at a convenient distance from the dwelling-house. A cavity is then to be dug in the form of an inverted cone, the bottom being concave, so as to form a reservoir for the reception of waste water. Sould the soil render it necessary to construct a drain, it will be advisable to extend it to a considerable length, or, at least, so far as to open at the side of the hill or declivity, or into a well. An air-trap should likewise be formed in the drain, by sinking the latter so much lower in that opening as it is high, and by fixing a partition from the top, for the depth of an inch or two into the water of the drain, by which means the air will be completely excluded from the well. A sufficient number of brick piers must now be formed in the sides of the ice-house, for the support of a cart-wheel, which should be laid with its convex side upwards, for the purpose of receiving the ice; and which ought to be covered with hurdles and straw, to afford a drain for the melted ice.

The sides and dome of the cone should be about nine inches thick, the former being constructed of steened brick-work, that is, without mortar, and with the bricks placed at right angles to the face of the work. The vacant space behind ought to be filled up with gravel, or loose stones, in order that the water oozing through the sides may the more easily be conducted into the well. The doors of the ice-house should likewise be so formed as to shut closely; and bundles of straw ought always to be placed before the inner door, for the more effectual exclusion air.

The ice to be deposited in this building should be collected during the frost, broken into small pieces, and properly rammed down, in strata of C

about one foot thick, so that it may become one complete body. In those seasons when sufficient quantities of ice cannot be procured, snow may be substituted, and preserved in a similar manher'.

The fields are now clothed in their winter livery, and present a novel and agreeable spectacle to the eye. Some pretty lines on two greyhounds playing in the snow form an interesting description of the scenery of the month of January.

Level no more! The jetty pair,

The lightest things of earth or air,
My playful pets, are bounding there.
Oh! how on that white plain we trace
Each coal-black greyhound's form of grace;
Now wantoning in speed and strength;
Now stretching out their lazy length;
Now the wide-circling race renewing
Now in close narrowing round pursuing;
Now bounding over bush and briar
With aimless glee-now leaping higher,
Hoping and half-succeeding oft
To catch the birds that soar aloft;
Now bending the long neck, the head
Deep-plunging in the glittering bed;
Then with quick jerk withdrawn, to throw
On all around the flaky snow;
Now leaning o'er the brook, with eye
That longs across its breast to fly,
-And paw that pats the freezing rill
To try if it be water still;
Then rushing to their mistress' fcet,

With fond caress her smile to meet.

About the beginning of the month, larks (alauda arvensis) congregate, and fly to the warm stubble for shelter; and the nut-hatch (sitta europaea) is heard. The shell-less snail or slug (limax) makes its appearance, and commences its depredations

For some observations on the use of ice and snow in cooling liquors, we refer to our last volume, p. 211.

on garden plants and green wheat. The missel thrush (turdus viscivorus) begins its song. The hedge-sparrow (sylvia modularis) and the thrush (turdus musicus) begin to sing, The wren, also, pipes her perennial lay,' even among the flakes of snow. The titmouse (parus) pulls straw out of the thatch, in search of insects; linnets (fringilla linota) congregate; and rooks (corvus frugilegus) resort to their nest trees. Pullets begin to lay; young lambs are dropped now.

The house sparrow (fringilla domestica) chirps; the bat (vespertilio) appears; spiders shoot out their webs; and the blackbird (turdus merula) whistles. The fieldfares, red-wings, skylarks, and titlarks, resort to watered meadows for food, and are, in part, supported by the gnats which are on the snow, near the water. The tops of tender turnips and ivy-berries afford food for the graminivorous birds, as the ringdove, &c. Earthworms lie out on the ground, and the shell-snail (helix nemoralis) appears. See some lines to the snail in our last volume, p. 23.

Mr. Gisborne, in his Walks in a Forest,' draws a lively picture of cattle going to their accustomed pools to drink, when completely frozen over, and of their awkward attempts to obtain the grateful beverage.

Sunk in the vale, whose concave depth receives
The waters draining from these shelvy banks
When the shower beats, yon pool with pallid gleam
Betrays its icy covering. From the glade
Issuing in pensive file, and moving slow,
The cattle, all unwitting of the change,
To quench their customary thirst advance.
With wondering stare and fruitless search they trace
The solid margin: now bend low the head
In act to drink; now with fastidious nose
Snuffing the marble floor, and breathing loud,
From the cold touch withdraw. Awhile they stand
In disappointment mute; with ponderous feet
Then bruise the surface: to each stroke the woods
Reply; forth gushes the imprisoned wave.

In this month, the flowers of the rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis) begin to open; the winter aconite (helleborus hiemalis), and the bear's foot (h. foetidus), are in flower about the middle of the month; the mezcreon (daphne m.) breathes mild its early sweets;' and the red dead-nettle (lamium purpureum) flowers under the shelter of southern hedges. The snowdrop' (galanthus nivalis) seems on the point of blowing. The common creeping crowfoot (ranunculus repens) is now in flower; and the crocus, if the weather be mild, appears above ground. Ivy casts its leaves ; the catkin, or male blossom of the hazel (corylus avellana), unfolds; the flowers of the holly (ilex aquifolium) begin to open; and the leaves of the honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) are quite out. Towards the end of January, the daisy (bellis perennis) is in full bloom.

The china rose (rosa chinensis and rosa semperflorens), till lately unknown to us, and at first considered only as a greenhouse plant, is now seen in blow in the open air, even in the month of December, often with its red buds mossed with frost. The wallflower (cheiranthus), periwinkle (vinca, major & minor), and heart's-ease (viola tricolor), are still in blow.

The golden saxifrage, called also golden moss, and stonecrop (chrysoplenium), in the absence of other flowers, affords its little aid to give life and beauty to the garden. The bramble (rubus fruticosus) still retains its leaves, and gives a thin scattering of green in the otherwise leafless hedges; while the berries of the hawthorn, the wild rose, and the spindle-tree, afford their brilliant touches of red. The twigs of the red dogwood, too, give a richness amid the general brown of the other shrubs.

1 For various poetical tributes to the snowdrop, see our five former volumes, in the Naturalist's Diary for Jan. and Feb,

Hunting and shooting are among the favourite amusements of this season. Skating, also, is much practised by young persons.

In this month, the farmer carries out manure to his fields, and repairs quickset hedges; taking advantage of the dry and hard ground, during frost. The barn resounds with the flail, barley being now threshed for malting. He lops forest trees, and cuts timber for winter use. About the end

of the month, in dry weather, peas and beans are sown, and vetches for seed or fodder. Hogs are killed for bacon, and beef and hams are smoked.

When as the Did Heere's date doth end,
For good New Beere all wish and crave;
And New Heeres gyftes abrode they send
To faythful friendes they hope to have.

DESCRIPTION OF FRUIT TREES'.
Then let the learned Gardener mark with care
The kinds of stocks, and what those kinds will bear;
Explore the nature of each several tree,
And, known, improve with artful industry;
And let no spot of idle earth be found,
But cultivate the genius of the ground.

DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. GEOR. b. 2.

APPLE (Pyrus malus). The common appletree, in its wild state, is armed with thorns. It forms, when cultivated alone, a spreading tree, the branches and twigs of which are distinguished from those of the pear-tree, which is of the same genus, by being more horizontal, irregular, and twisting; thus most accurately described by Virgil:

Apple trees, whose trunks are strong to bear
Their spreading boughs, extend themselves in air;

For a description of Forest Trees, with poetical illustrations, on the same plan as the present account of Fruit Trees, we refer to Time's Telescope for the year 1816, at the end of the Naturalist's Diary for each month. Some fruit shrubs are necessarily included in this account of trees.