but
very often it is her daughter or a servant. No matter who it is, as
soon as she is convinced that you will be careful and thorough she
will let you hunt for eggs. This is very exciting, because hens have a
way of laying in nests in the wood and all kinds of odd places, hoping
that no one will find them and they will thus be able to sit and hatch
out their chickens. The hay in the stable is a favorite spot, and
under the wood-pile, and among the long grass. Sometimes one
overlooks a nest for nearly a week and then finds three or four eggs
in it, one of them quite warm. This is a great discovery. Just at
first it is easy to be taken in by the china nest-eggs, and to run
indoors in triumph with one in your hand. But the farmer's wife will
laugh and send you back with it, and the mistake is not likely to be
made again. After a while one gets to know the hens personally, and to
know the noise which means that they have just laid. Sometimes, if a
hen is going to lay just as you come to her nest, she will run off
clucking and screaming and lay the egg on the ground.

Ducks' Eggs

Ducks' eggs, which are rather larger than hens' eggs, and pale green
in color, are often more difficult to find. They have to be hunted for
in the grass by the pond.

Feeding the Chickens

The farmer's wife also lets her visitors feed the chickens if they are
gentle with them and thoughtful. It needs quite a little thought,
because if you throw down the grain without thinking, many of the
weaker and less greedy ones will get nothing, and many of the stronger
and greedier ones will get too much. After a few handfuls you can see
which are the weaklings, and after that you can favor them
accordingly. A greedy hen is so very greedy that she will always,
whatever you do, get more than her share; but it is possible to snub
her a little. The very little chickens and ducklings do not have
grain, but soft food, which is put in a saucer and placed inside the
coop. It is after they have finished eating that they can most easily
be picked up, but one must be very careful not to squeeze them.

The Dairy

If the farmer's wife makes her own butter there will be an opportunity
to help her. Perhaps she will let you use the skimmer. Turning the
churn is not much fun except just when the butter forms.

Bee-Swarming

Bees swarm on hot days in the early summer, usually in a tree, but
sometimes in a room, if the window is open, and often in a bush, q