CLIMATE, SEASONS, ETC. 



1817. 



June 3. (as I used to wonder at when a boy) the noxious 

 vermin that devoured the land of Egypt; but the bean, 

 which comes in the long pods borne by the three- 

 thorned Locust-tree, and of which I have an abun 

 dance here. The wild honey was the honey of wild 

 bees ; and the hollow trees here contain swarms 

 of them. The trees are cut, sometimes, in winter, 

 and the part containing the swarm brought and placed 

 near the house. I saw this lately in Pennsylvania. 



4. Fine rain. Began about ten o clock. 



5. Rain nearly all day. 



6. Fine and warm. Things grow surprizingly. 



7. Fine and warm. Rather cold at night. 



8. Hot. 



9. Rain all day. The wood green, and so beautiful ! 

 The leaves look so fresh and delicate ! But, the 

 Flowering Locust only begins to show leaf. It will 

 by and by, make up, by its beauty, for its shyness, 

 at present. 



10. Fine waim day. The cattle are up to their eyes in 

 grass. 



11. Fine warm day. Like the very, very finest in 

 England in June. 



12. Fine day. And, when I say fine, I mean really 

 fine. Not a cloud in the sky. 



13. Fine and hot. About as hot as the hottest of our 

 English July weather in common years. Lucerne, 

 2 \ feet high. 



14. Fine and hot ; but, we have always a breeze when 

 it is hot, which I did not formerly find in Pennsyl 

 vania. This arises, I suppose, from our nearness 

 to the sea. 



15. Rain all day. 



16. Fine, beautiful day. Never saw such fine weather. 

 Not a morsel of dirt. The ground sucks up all. 

 I walk about and work in the land in shoes made of 

 deer-skin. They are dressed white, like breeches- 

 leather. I began to leave off my coat to-day, and do 

 not expect to put it on again till October. My 

 hat is a white chip, with broad brims. Never better 

 health. 



17. Fine day. The partridges (miscalled quails) begin 

 to sit. The orchard full of birds nests ; and, 

 amongst others, a dove is sitting on her eggs in an 

 apple tree. 



1 8. Fine day. Green peas fit to gather in pretty early 

 gardens, though only of the common hotspur sort. 

 Mayduke cherries begin to be ripe. 



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