Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



spare time from the pursuit of gooseberry 

 mildew it ought to take the matter up ; but I 

 fear that until a florist or two has been lynched 

 nothing will be done. 



Fine as has been the weather for the past 

 four or five weeks, January is not to pass 

 without a touch of winter. Winter for us 

 means a strong north wind, from which 

 Funchal is well sheltered, bringing more or less 

 snow to the mountains, where it generally lies 

 for a few days, and copious showers to the 

 lowlands. The rain is not continuous but 

 broken by short spells of sunshine, with some- 

 thing of the " uncertain glory of an April day." 

 The thermometer falls at night to 50 degrees, 

 or half a degree lower, and the mid-day shade 

 temperature is 56 degrees to 58 degrees. We 

 amuse ourselves by grumbling at the bitter 

 cold, and are pleased to light a fire of fir-cones 

 in the evening. Our roses are battered to 

 pieces, but all things will flourish with renewed 

 vigour when the steady sunshine comes again. 

 And to the agriculturist these plentiful showers 

 are very grateful. They do not wash the soil 

 away like the torrential rains which sometimes 

 come from the west ; but sink gradually into 



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