32 LETTERS TO MARCO v 



comes on, freezes into solid ice. I can 

 imagine nothing worse. 



It is always the late snows and frosts that 

 do the most damage. 



All growing vegetation has the power of 

 absorbing and storing heat ; this heat we find 

 stored up in wood, which when burnt gives 

 it out again. My brother, Sir Bradford, 

 tells me that in India all growing leaves 

 feel cool to the touch, no doubt because 

 they absorb and retain the heat rays, but 

 that dead leaves, having not this property, 

 feel intensely hot, radiating the heat as a 

 piece of stone or iron would. 



G. D. L. 



