250 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xxxi 



richer. The same may be said of rams used 

 for breeding, but I should think it would 

 require the meadow to be small and the rams 

 numerous to produce any effect." 



Mr. Skirving also asks me a question 

 about my plant Dictamnus fraxinella. This 

 plant is supposed to emit from its blossom 

 when fully out a certain gas which ignites on 

 a flame being put to it ; and I had said that 

 I should anxiously look forward to the bloom- 

 ing period so as to try the experiment myself. 

 I am sorry I cannot satisfy Mr. Skirving's 

 curiosity, for my root of D. frax. was but a 

 tiny scrap of a thing when I obtained it from 

 the nurseryman ; it was badly eaten by a slug 

 the first year, since then it has grown very 

 little and, in spite of the great care I have 

 taken of it, has not yet bloomed. The plant 

 is a proverbially slow grower ; mine dies 

 down to the very ground every year in the 

 most alarming manner, but comes up again 

 the following spring. It looks healthy, but 

 is still quite small. I hope to live to see it 



