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those months was not sufficient to deter it from 

 following its old habits. In the northern parts of 

 Scotland, however, it does not flower till April. 

 Dr. Walker thought the flowering of aiiy shrub 

 in winter in this climate was an indubitable proof 

 of its not being a native ; and he therefore sup- 

 poses the arbutus to have been a native of Ice- 

 land : in the fact, I believe, he is right ; but, 

 when the similarity of the climates is considered, 

 it is rather a whimsical proof of his doctrine. 



" He gives, however, several instances of 

 plants brought from the southern hemisphere, 

 which flower there at the time that the sun is in 

 the tropic of Capricorn, and which adhere in this 

 country to their old December rule, without 

 obeying the influence of the sun when in 

 Cancer." 



I afterwards met my uncle in the garden, 

 where he showed me an immense quantity of 

 buds on the peach trees, and took great pains 

 in teaching me the difference between the flower 

 buds and leaf buds the former short, thick, 

 broad and full, with a downy covering ; the leaf 

 buds much less downy, longer, and not so thick. 

 In a few weeks, he says, I am to see these trees 

 in full flower, notwithstanding this wintery 

 weather. 



1th. From all I had heard Colonel Travers 

 say about rice, I imagined that its cultivation 



