228 LETTERS TO DR. BETHUNE [CHAP, xx, 



can of our own books and drawings ? We are writing up to 

 Messrs. Johnston to ask how best to forward my sister's and 

 my five sets of Insect diagrams, which were published by 

 our Royal Agricultural Society. When we learn, she is going 

 to have them forwarded, and hopes you will kindly accept 

 them as a little token of her great sympathy. By this post 

 I am sending, in two book-post parcels, my Manual (2nd 

 edit.), " Cobham Journals," * and Annual Reports, vols. 

 13, 14, 15, 1 6, 1 8. These I have here, and I am going to 

 write to my printers to forward some more to try and make 

 up the set. Kindly accept these, and please excuse the 

 " Cobham Journals " not being absolutely new. But it has 

 long been out of print and I secured a presentation copy 

 which was offered for sale and had it bound, and put a strip 

 of paper to hide what might be on the title-page. 



Mr. Fletcher is my chief Canadian correspondent, and it 

 is a great delight when I get a letter from him. 



You will not have time at present to think of entomo- 

 logical matters, but we were desirous to assure you as soon 

 as possible of our great sympathy in your trouble. With my 

 very kind regards to yourself and Mrs. Bethune, in which 

 my sister begs to join me. 



June 7, 1897. 



I was very much pleased to see your handwriting again a 

 short time ago and a little while before exceedingly grati- 

 fied with the long kind review. You, living among so many 

 friends and colleagues in work, can hardly appreciate how 

 very greatly indeed I value such kind encouragement. 



Your beautiful letter was a great support and comfort to 

 me in my loss last year, 2 and now my health is fairly estab- 

 lished again. I had great trouble for many weeks, some 

 months rather, from some very troublesome disturbance of 

 sight, but I did as well as I could, and when circumstances 

 allowed, I got one of our best London oculists to come and 

 see what was amiss. To my great joy he told me that each 

 of my eyes individually was in excellent order, but there was 

 some such difference in their action that some special glasses 

 were needed, and I find great comfort from them. He said 

 he wondered how I had been able to work. 



Just now Alfalfa (lucerne), infested with locusts is coming 

 in from Buenos Aires, and one of my correspondents 

 found his horses so ill after feeding on the infested lucerne, 

 that I sent a copy of his notes to our " Live Stock Journal." 



1 Containing Miss Ormerod's Meteorological Observations. 



2 The death of her sister Georgiana. 



