July 14
Posted by sydney on Jul 14th, 2009
- 1792: July 14, 1792 – The double roses rot in the bud without blowing out: an instance this of the coldness, & wetness of the summer. Potatoes blossom.
- 1791: July 14, 1791 – A bat of the largest sort comes forth every evening, & flits about in the front of my brother’s house. This is a very large species, & seldom seen. See my history of Selburne.
- 1790: July 14, 1790 – Tempest, & much thunder to the N.W. Neither cucumbers, nor kidney beans, nor annuals thrive on account of the cold blowing season. Timothy the tortoise is very dull, & spends most of his time under the shade of the vast, expanded leaves of the monk’s rhubarb.
- 1789: July 14, 1789 – Benham skims the horse-fields. Rasps come in: not well flavoured. On this day a woman brought me two eggs of a fern-owl or eve-jarr, which she found on the verge of the hanger to the left of the hermitage, under a beechen shrubb. This person, who lives just at the foot of the hanger, seems well acquainted with these nocturnal swallows, & says she has often found their eggs in that place, & that they lay only two at a time on the bare ground. The eggs were oblong, dusky, & streaked somewhat in the manner of the plumage of the parent-bird, & were equal in size at each end. The dam was sitting on the eggs when found, which contained the rudiments of young, & would have hatched perhaps in a week. From hence we may see the time of their breeding, which corresponds pretty well with that of the Swift, as does also the period of their arrival. Each species is usually seen about the beginning of May. Each breeds but once in a summer; each lays only two eggs.
- 1788: July 14, 1788 – Piped many shoots of elegant pinks. There are some buntings in the N. field: a very rare bird at Selborne. They love open fields, without enclosures. Jennetings, apples so called, come in to be eaten. Potatoes come in.
- 1787: July 14, 1787 – Hops are dioecious plants: hence perhaps it might be proper, tho’ not practised, to leave purposely some male plants in every garden, that their farina might impregnate the blossoms. The female plants without their male attendants are not in their natural state: hence we may suppose the frequent failure of crop so incident to hop grounds. No ther growth, cultivated by man, has such frequent & general failures as hops.
Daniel Wheeler’s boy found a young fledge cuckow in the nest of an hedge-sparrow. Under the nest lay an egg of the hedge-sparrow, which looked as if it had been sucked. In the late hot weather the cock bird has been crying much in the neighbourhood of the nest, but not since last week. - 1785: July 14, 1785 – Vast shower in the evening towards Odiham. Wheat on the strong lands looks finely. The crop in the Ewel looked so thin, as if there would be nothing all spring: but now there is fine even wheat. Fine rain at London.
- 1784: July 14, 1784 – Papilio Machaon in Mrs Etty’s garden. They are very rare in these parts.
- 1783: July 14, 1783 – When the owl comes-out of an evening, the swifts pursue her, but not with any vehemence.
- 1782: July 14, 1782 – Rain. This weather will occasion much after-grass. Field-pease, & spring corn thrive.
- 1781: July 14, 1781 – The hay that is down is now entirely spoiled. These soft rains sop & drench everything. A young man brought me a live specimen of a Papilion Machaon, taken below Temple. The first specimen that ever I saw of that species in these parts was in my own garden in last Augt. 2nd.
- 1780: July 14, 1780 – Seeds of lathraea squammaria ripen.
- 1779: July 14, 1779 – Dwarf elder blows. Red martagons begin to blow. Large kidney beans bud for bloom. Grapes swell.
- 1778: July 14, 1778 – The little pond on our common has still plenty of water! ponds in bottoms are dry.
- 1776: July 14, 1776 – Young frogs migrate, & spread around the ponds for more than a furlong: they march about all day long, separating in pursuit of food; & get to the top of the hill, & into the N. field.
- 1775: July 14, 1775 – Hay much damaged: many meadows not cut. This dripping season, which hurts individuals in their hay, does marvelous service to the public, in the spring-corn, after-grass, turneps, fallows, &c. Oats are much recovered, & brought-on. Wheat begins to change colour; is not lodged.
* When a person approaches the haunt of fern-owls (caprimulgi) in an evening, they continue flying round the head of the obtruder; & striking their wings together above their backs, in the manner that the pigeons called smiters are known to do, make a smart snap: perhaps at that time they are jealous for their young; & their noise & gesture are intended by way of menace. - 1774: July 14, 1774 – Swifts, at least 30: at times they seem to come from other villages.
- 1772: July 14, 1772 – The grass-walks burnt to powder.
- 1771: July 14, 1771 – Young martins & swallows begin to congregate. Young swifts are fledged.
- 1768: July 14, 1768 – Thomas brings down Succade-melons from Selborne; & he says he has cut four brace. They are very fine.
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