MAY. 133 



being a very good master, that I had given them plenty of grub — no, 

 not grub, for that was vulgar, and, besides, might be interpreted to 

 mean maggot — food, then, and of the best quality. Were their 

 quarters comfortable ? Oh, nothing to complain of. What, then, was 

 the matter ? There was a little disputing and questioning about the 

 answer. I thought I could hear " Go on, speak" — until at last Her 

 Grace of Sutherland, apologising for assuming so prominent a position, 

 but saying that she had been requested to speak for the rest, replied, 

 " Our sorrows and troubles all arise from one cause — comprehended in 

 one word, heat. It is, I know, a delicate subject for a lady to touch 

 upon, but still I must do it ; it is not that there is any moist heat, for, 

 alas ! we are too shrivelled up for that. Why, Sir, I, who am regarded 

 as one of the most distinguished ladies of the court — I appeal to Her 

 Royal Highness the Princess Royal (Scholefield's) whether it is not so 

 — look like a shrivelled up old woman before the season is over. It 

 grieves and irritates me, I am sorry to say, excessively, to hear people 

 standing by us, and saying, ' What a splendid summer ! how gloriously 

 hot ! what a sunless sky !' Why, Sir, these are the very things which 

 kill us, and we may well echo the cry of the frogs of old, ' What is 

 play to you is death to us.' In fact, we have been so scorched and 

 dried up and withered, the last three years, that I am now determined 

 to forsake the south altogether, and take up my quarters at Dun- 

 robin, N.B." Pleased to find that I was not in fault, I thought it well 

 to write and ask some of those who grow the flower, whether this were 

 true, and from many quarters I got the same reply. Messrs. Dodwell, 

 Bayley, & Co. say they have great difficulty in keeping them, except in 

 very sheltered positions, where the sun cannot get at them. As to 

 Slough, the decadence is piteous ; it used to be worth a journey there, 

 to see them in early spring — fine splendid blooms. But, alas! now 

 " Ichabod " must be written on them; for, in truth, their glory has 

 departed — they no longer form part of Mr. Turner's stock, and are 

 struck out of his Catalogue altogether, while Mr. Salter says, " I have 

 been obliged to give them up, or rather they have given me up, for the 

 last two seasons. I have tried them in all situations — fully exposed to 

 the sun, half shaded, and full north, but all to no purpose. I had, 

 three years ago, a fine and very large collection of varieties of which I 

 was the originator, numbering about 100 varieties ; but I have since 

 that time (1856) lost all. I believe the very dry weather of the last 

 two years to be the cause. As we go further northward we hear 

 a different story. " We have no difficulty," say Messrs. Downie and 

 Laird, " with Pansies ; they thrive very well, and we have now 

 upwards of 5000 plants." 



" Happy, happy pair, 

 None but the brave deserve the fair." 



Yet I am not quite sure that this is all ; for Mr. Lightbody says, 

 " Our Pansies here go off in the most unaccountable way — whole beds 

 of them at one time." Ah ! thought I, that is something like us. But 

 can the heat affect them in the cold regions of Falkirk, where frosts 

 often occur in June. I suppose that other Scotch growers suffer, if I 

 may judge from the scrubbiest lot of plants I ever saw, which came from 



