i LETTERS TO MARCO 3 



specimens and laid them out as a sort of 

 flower-show on the table in my boat-house ; 

 notwithstanding its being the silly season, I 

 refrained from troubling the papers on the 

 subject. 



Plums have been a wonderful crop, more 

 like bunches of huge grapes than plums. 

 Apples and walnuts too have done remark- 

 ably well, as have the vegetables, though peas 

 and strawberries, owing to the dry weather, 

 were rather a failure. Jam-making has been 

 going on to a great extent. There is only 

 the blackberry and damson yet to be made. 

 Jam-making time used to be the delight of 

 my childhood. My mother was a great hand 

 at it, and now that we preserve our own fruit 

 the old associations come back to me : the 

 gently bubbling fruit and sugar in the polished 

 preserving pans on the edge of the fire give 

 off the same most delightful odour, and 

 the mysteries of skimming, potting, tasting, 

 and labelling are as attractive as ever to 

 me. 





