BERTHA'S VISIT. 



April 1st. THE little buds of pear blossoms, 

 which I told you .had enlarged so much, have 

 this day blown out completely. They are, I do 

 think, a curiosity. They have been now about 

 two months in water, but they had lain dry so 

 long before, that one might have thought no life 

 remained in them. The horse-chesnut leaves, 

 which first came out, begin to droop ; but on 

 one of the twigs there is a nice young shoot, at 

 least two inches long, which looks bright and 

 fresh. 



The lilac buds, I am sorry to say, have 

 withered ; but some of the ash leaves have 

 opened out finely : three of them, however, were 

 curiously twisted, and filled up with a cottony 

 substance, which on examination was found to 

 contain a little greenish insect, Mary thinks it 

 is the aphis fraxina. What a long time the eggs 

 must have remained there, for I do not think 



vol.. in. i CoH, B 



