LETTER XVII 



Protraction of Mild Weather Primroses A Cowslip on Christmas 

 Day Monthly Roses First Winter-Aconite Colt's-foot 

 Snowdrops and Crocuses Mezereon Pyrusjaponica Tropeo- 

 lurn Tuberosum Edible Tubers Unsatisfactory Experiment. 



28/7* December, 1894. 



DEAR MARCO Until now we have had 

 nothing but mild weather, but this morning 

 there was a smart ground frost, so that I fear 

 it will not be long before the discomforts of 

 winter will be upon us in earnest. 



On Christmas Day a friend brought us a 

 pretty bunch of primroses and one cowslip, 

 which he had picked in the morning in a 

 wood about four miles from here. I picked 

 a number of charming buds from my monthly 

 rose-bushes on the same day ; on the 24th, I 



