6.11.39

Evidently it rained very heavily during last night. Today windy, a few showers but most of the day sunny. Transplanted the peonies. They are said not to stand this well, but they had withered back & I took a good ball of soil with each. Planted the little rambler cutting, the one that was in a pot. This has rooted will but is of course a very tiny plant. Dug & manured a trench to plant the first lot of currants, but don’t like to plant them till the ground is a little less sodden. Limed another small patch of ground. Forgot to mention that one of the gooseberry bushes I moved yesterday had layered itself. Evidently they do this spontaneously sometimes.

5 eggs.

5.11.39

Some wind in the morning, then nice sunny weather. Ground has dried up somewhat. In the evening violent wind & a few drops of rain. The wind actually blew the roof off the small henhouse. Enormous flocks of starlings, some tens of thousands at a time, going over with a noise that sounds like heavy rain. The leaves are mostly down now. Elder leaves just coming down. As I remember it the elms are being stripped much earlier this year than most.

Transplanted the gooseberry bushes. Trust I haven’t damaged them. One or two still had green or greenish leaves, & others were so deep in the ground I had to damage their roots considerably getting them up. The soil there (this end of the garden) is in places pure clay at only 1 foot below the surface. Dug some of this out & lightened the ground as well as possible with sand & turf-mould. Then limed the ground between the bushes & dug in, also pruned the bushes a little. Hope this wind will not blow them all loose again. Added another sack of leaves. [Total on facing page: 3¹/₂.]

9 eggs (probably some of these laid yesterday). Sold 30 @ 4/- a score.

4.11.39

Damp, but not raining to any great extent. Finished digging the ground for shallots (still very sodden & will need several fine days to dry it), manured the rhubarb, began clearing the new patch of thistles etc. Saw the white owl in the daytime. Very beautiful toadstools in the field now, pale bluey-green, slender stalk of same colour, mauve gills, the whole toadstool coated with a sort of limey stuff. Added another ¹/₂ sack of dead leaves to heap.

5 eggs. Total this week 33 (Mrs A. obviously underfed them).

3.11.39

Have been away since last Sunday (28th), only returning this evening. Everything is extremely sodden. Planted a few more crocus bulbs & took up dahlia roots, which may be worth keeping. In this time the hens have apparently laid only 28 eggs, less than 5 a day. Had not noted before leaving on Sunday sold 1 score @ 4/-.

28.10.39

Frost again last night (not so hard as before). All today raining almost continuously. Impossible to do anything out of doors. One double egg today.

6 eggs. Total this week 41.

27.10.39

I think there must have been a slight frost again last night. Today about midday heavy rumbling sound which may have been either thunder or gunfire, & soon afterwards heavy sleety rain. More showers in the afternoon. Ground is very soggy again. Could not do much out of doors owing to the rain. Dug a little patch for the shallots.

6 eggs.

26.10.39

A very sharp white frost last night, the first severe frost of the year. The day overcast with a short sunny interval, & rather cold. Water in the hen’s basin frozen solid this morning. Turned it, & this evening there was still a little ice left. The dahlias blackened immediately, & I am afraid the marrows I had left to ripen are done for, as they had gone a funny colour. Brought them in & added the haulm to the compost-heap, which is now completed except for the old straw which is still in the flower garden.

Finished clearing the waste patch, piled the turf in a heap & marked out where the path is to go. This leaves another yard width of soil. Began digging this as it will do for the shallots. Collected another sack of dead leaves & sprinkled a little saltpere (advised in Smallholder) among them. Shall try & note the number of sacks collected so as to see what amount of mould they make. The turves old H. stacked earlier in the year have rotted down into beautiful fine loam, but I think I had first killed the grass on these with sodium chlorate, so presumably what I am stacking now will not rot so rapidly or completely. Put some wood-ash on the place for the broad beans. If I can’t get that bit fine I must try & find space elsewhere & simply the bad clayey patch a good liming. The broody hen goes to her nest every night. Last night she would have frozen to death if I had not happened to find her. Considerable number of goldfinches in the garden today.

7 eggs.

25.10.39

Fine, sunny, cold wind. Began clearing the vacant ground between the old garden & the new patch. Burnt a little of the rubbish. Limed another strip, also the rhubarb patch, but have not turned the lime in here. Collected the first sack of dead leaves (beech). Had noticed for two days that a brown hen was sitting out somewhere. Tonight found her nest – 10 eggs, 1 broken. Took the eggs, which may possibly be good, being unfertilized. Tonight she had gone back to the empty nest. Put her in the house, & hope she may be cured in a few days. This morning[1] shifted the wire of the run. Posts are not long enough for gate posts, but can have an extra piece fitted on if I can get hold of some timber. Yesterday, when sinking holes for the posts found that the chalk is only about 6” beneath the surface, but possibly it isn’t so all over the patch.

4 eggs. Sold 20 @ 3/6 (to milkman).

[1] Orwell originally wrote ‘Tonight,’ presumably when he was writing up his diary. Peter Davison

24.10.39

Evidently a good deal of rain last night. Today overcast, not cold, a few spots of rain in the afternoon. Leaves coming down pretty fast now.

Today went into Baldock. Bought small sieve (2/-). Impossible to get iron stakes for wire netting. Timber almost unprocurable. Managed to get 2 very poor 6 ft. stakes for gate-posts of hen-run. Put them up this evening & shall shift wire tomorrow if not raining. Tried to mow grass, but the machine in its present state makes no impression. Shall have to leave it till the spring, then get it scythed. Mr K.[1] mended the spade by using the handle of the broken fork. Quite a good mend but leaves the spade a bit short. Paid 1/-. Impossible to sow broad beans yet as the ground will not get fine. Clarke’s sent shallots today & shall plant them by way of experiment when I get time. NB. That 2 lb. shallots = about 60 bulbs (say 2 rows). There are now 2 barn owls which live in the stumpy elm tree, & evidently it is they that make the sawing noise. I suppose these are the ones that used to be called screech-owls, & the ordinary brown owl is the one that makes the to-whoo noise.

6 eggs. Started hens on course of Karswood today[a]. Also giving them more shell-grit.

[a] Lasted till 14.11.39 (26 hens). [Orwell’s note]

[1] Unidentified neighbour. Peter Davison

23.10.39

Not cold & fairly fine, but a few drops of drizzling rain in the evening. Cleaned out the piece between the rockery & the trellis, made a bed of sorts, planted 20 forget-me-nots in it, made a bed ready for the rambler. There is now nothing to be done in the flower garden except to plant the flowers (phlox etc.) when they are ready, make up path & perhaps cut the grass once again. Made 2 lb. apple jelly yesterday. Found some eggs of either worm or snail, about the size of match-heads, whitish, translucent.

6 eggs.