The Natural History of Selborne

• 1791: October 13, 1791 – My beeches in the field shed ripe mast.  Some of the Bantams sicken.
• 1790: October 13, 1790 – Gathered in a bushel more of dearlings.  Mrs Chandler returns home from the Harteley inoculation.
• 1787: October 13, 1787 – We saw several Red-wings among the bushes on the N. side of the common.  There were swallows about the village at the same time: so that summer & winter birds of passage were seen on the same day.  The aurora was very red & aweful.
• 1785: October 13, 1785 – Barley abroad at Faringdon.
• 1783: October 13, 1783 – Mr John Mulso left me.
• 1782: October 13, 1782 – The great farmer at Newton has 105 acres of barley abroad.  Mr Pink still has 40 acres of barley abroad.
• 1781: October 13, 1781 – On frequented roads the dust is very troublesome.
• 1780: October 13, 1780 – The tortoise scarcely moves.
• 1779: October 13, 1779 – Small showers, sun.
• 1778: October 13, 1778 – Near 40 ravens have been playing about over the hanger all day.
• 1777: October 13, 1777 – Red-wings appear.
• 1775: October 13, 1775 – Hops were a drug at Wey-hill-fair: unusual quantities of were exposed for sale.
• 1771: October 13, 1771 – Stormy winds, & gluts of rain.  Floods.
• 1769: October 13, 1769 – The dry fit has lasted a fortnight, sprinklings excepted.
• 1768: October 13, 1768 – Swallows and martins at Streatley.

• 1792: October 12, 1792 – Gathered in the dearling apples: fruit small, & stunted.
• 1791: October 12, 1791 – Gathered cucumbers for picklers.  One of my Apricot-trees withers, & looks as if it would die.  Hunter’s moon rises early. Mrs Ben White left us, & took Tome with her, leaving Ben behind.
• 1790: October 12, 1790 – Gathered in near 4 bushels of dearling apples from the meadow tree: the crop is great, but the fruit is small.
• 1787: October 12, 1787 – Partridges, & pheasants are very shy, & wild.  Bror Ben & wife left us & went to Newton.
• 1785: October 12, 1784 – The grass cut the last week in Septr. all lies rotting.  My well begins to raise. It has been so low all this autumn as not to afford water sufficient for the occasions of the family.  Had it not been for the frequent rains, we should have been at a loss, when we wanted to wash or brew.
• 1783: October 12, 1783 – The crop of acorns is so prodigious that the trees look quite white with them; & the poor make, as it were a second harvest of them, by gathering them at one shilling pr. bushel.  At the same time not one beech-mast is to be seen.  This plenty of acorns has raised store-pigs to an extravagant price.
• 1782: October 12, 1782 – The paths are dry & crisp.  Men house barley ’till between ten & eleven at night.  Pleasant starlight.
• 1781: October 12, 1781 – Farmer Parsons fetches a waggon-load of water from Dorton for brewing!  Wells fail.
• 1780: October 12, 1780 – Spinage grown very large: a vast crop.
• 1779: October 12, 1779 – Bad fevers near Chichester.
• 1776: October 12, 1776 – The hanging beech-woods begin to be beautifully tinged, & to afford most lovely scapes, very engaging to the eye, & imagination.  They afford sweet lights & shades.  Maples are also finely tinged.  These scenes are worthy the pencil of a Reubens.
• 1774: October 12, 1774 – Hops sold at Wey-hill fair from 2:16:0 to 4:4:0: & 5:0:0 to 5:10:0.

• 1792: October 11, 1792 – Dr Chandler mows the church-litton closes for hay.  Farmer Parsons houses pease, which have been hacked for weeks.  Barley abroad.
• 1790: October 11, 1790 – Gathered the Cardillac pears, a bushel; the knobbed russets 2 bushels; the kitchen, ruddy apple at the end of the fruit-wall, near a bushel.
• 1789: October 11, 1789 – A trufle-hunter called on us, having in his pocket several large trufles found in this neighbourhood.  He says these roots are not to be found in deep woods, but in narrow hedge rows & the skirts of coppices.  Some trufles, he informed us, lie two feet within the earth; & some quite on the surface: the latter, he added, have little or no smell, & are not so easily discovered by the dogs as those that lie deeper.  Half a crown a pound was the price which he asked for this commodity.  Some few bunches of grapes just eatable.  Some of the latter nectarines well-flavoured.  On this day, Dr Chandler saw several swallows, flying as usual, near Cologne: he had observed none at Rolle since the beginning of September, nor none on his way to Cologne.  On the 12, in his way to Brussels, he saw more.
• 1786: October 11, 1786 – The news papers mention vast floods about the country; & that much damage has been done by high tides, & tempestuous winds.
• 1784: October 11, 1784 – Men draw & stack turnips.
• 1783: October 11, 1783 – Mr John Mulso came.  Hunter’s moon rises soon after sunset.  Muscae domesticae abound in the kitchen & enjoy the warmth of the fire.  Where they lay their eggs does not appear.  The business of propagation continues among them.
• 1782: October 11, 1782 – Lord Howe arrived in the straits of Gibraltar.
• 1781: October 11, 1781 – A brood of swallows over Oakhanger-pond!
• 1780: October 11, 1780 – A tremendous storm in the Leeward islands, which occasioned vast damage among the shipping, & c.  Vast halo round the moon.
• 1778: October 11, 1778 – Redwings begin to appear on their winter visit.  Some ring-ouzels still about.  When redwings come, woodcocks are near at hand.
• 1777: October 11, 1777 – Found the Sphinx atropos, or death’s-head moth, a noble insect, of vast size: it lays it’s eggs on the Jasmine.  When handled, it makes a little, stridulous noise.  A squirrel in my hedges.  Insects retreat into the roof of my new building.
• 1776: October 11, 1776 – The red-breast entertains us with his autumnal song.
• 1775: October 11, 1775 – Lowered the flower-bank in the garden, & laid it on a gentle slope, & filled it with flowers of various sorts.
• 1774: October 11, 1774 – Began gathering apples, a large crop of some sorts.  Mr Yalden says he saw a woodcock today.
• 1773: October 11, 1773 – Fine day, clouds & wind at night.
• 1769: October 11, 1769 – Grapes begin to be very good.  Ground white & dirt a little crisped.
• 1768: October 12, 1768 – Lapwings begin to congregate in the uplands.  Fields of barley abroad.

Men wash their sheep.  Mr. John Muslo left us.

Cut four cucumbers.  Mr. John Muslo came.

Cut ten cucumbers.

Bright, sun, golden even. Cut eight cucumbers. Mrs. Clement & children left us. Many swifts.

A man brought me a large plate of straw-berries, which were crude, & not near ripe.  The ground all as hard as iron: we can sow nothing nor plant out.

Cut five cucumbers.

Early orange-lilies blow.  Few chafers.  The water at Kingsley mill begins to fail. The land-spring in the stoney-lane, as you go to Rood, stops.  We draw much water for the garden: the well sinks very fast.