What to look for in Spring
Another picture from my Ladybird book 'What to look for in spring'. I'm trying to make the book last by just looking at a few pictures at a time, and taking in all the details.
The illustrations date from the 1950s. The text describes this 'modern elaborate 12 row tilling machine'. My husband remembers these from working at the farm near his home when he was young 'but ours was red' he said.
He also remrmbers watching one of the older men using a 'fiddle' to sow one of the smaller fields.
The birds are the same as today; black-headed gulls, lapwings, and some rooks heading over to search for worms and grubs in the newly turned soil.
The trees, though, they're elms; 'the expanding flower-buds on the elm trees are tinged with pink' we are told. We don't hear much about Dutch Elm Disease any more, probably because we have very few elms left in these parts. Now it's ash die-back disease that is creeping through the local countryside.
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