271 



good, debility and rheumatism make me so helpless 

 at a hedge, that I am generally obliged to be pushed 

 over by two stout men, and sometimes a third lift- 

 ing my foot up ! Still I cling to my a ruling pas- 

 sion," and shoot well till over- fatigued. That my 

 garden thrives, I will only say that we had aspara- 

 gus on the 3rd, and have pease this day. The for- 

 mer is raised in one of the pigeon heated frames 

 invented by M'Phail ; and it seems that as no va- 

 pour of manure can affect the bed, what is raised in 

 it must be materially sweeter than by the common 

 process. I had a letter lately from a Radnorshire 

 man who has been visiting Mr. A. Knight, and re- 

 ports a fig-tree which has had nine crops in fifteen 

 months, and has now a tenth on it ! This is ef- 

 fected by drenching the plant with a mixture of 

 pigeon's dung and water many times every day. 



We have so few woodcocks that I have a bad 

 opportunity for ascertaining whether my suggestion 

 that the males only come over in the first flight, is 

 correct. We have had four, and I inclose the ex- 

 terior quill-feathers of one bird as a perfect example 

 of the male, — the female having a white line running 

 most of the way from the quill to the extremity. 



As for tearing out likenesses in paper, there is 

 much chance in it ; for if you get wrong in the sim- 

 ple outline, it is almost impossible to correct. I 

 have sometimes succeeded with strongly marked 

 features, at a concert or an assembly, — usually 

 tearing up the thin paper of the bill of fare. The 

 inclosed is the only one which I possess, but will 

 give you a perfect notion of the thing. It repre- 



