FEBRUARY 209 



My January-sown Green Peas are coming up very well, 

 but they would not survive except for the pea-wire cover- 

 ings, as the sparrows would nip out the hearts. The black 

 cotton strung about the Prunus pissardi has answered. 

 I have far more bloom than I have ever had before. 



As I rush about the garden, and see how the Daffies 

 grow an inch each day in such weather, in spite of very 

 cold nights, and though I have the usual endless 

 ' Martharish ' bothers of life inside the house, I can 

 indeed say with Thomson : 



I care not, Fortune, what you me deny ; 



You cannot rob me of free nature's grace ; 

 You cannot shut the windows of the sky, 



Through which Aurora shows her bright 'ning face ; 

 You cannot bar my constant feet to trace 



The woods and lawns by living stream at eve. 

 Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, 



And I their toys to the great children leave. 



Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave. 



To appreciate Miss Jekyll's book in a way to profit by 

 it, one must read and re-read it. One more quotation I 

 must make. In ' May ' she says : ' The blooming of the 

 Cowslip is the signal for a search for the Morel, one of the 

 best of the edible fungi. It grows in open woods, or where 

 the undergrowth has* not yet grown high, and frequently in 

 old parks and pastures, near or under Elms. It is quite 

 unlike any other fungus, shaped like a tall egg, with the 

 pointed end upwards, on a short, hollow stalk, and 

 looking something like a sponge. It has a delicate and 

 excellent flavour, and is perfectly wholesome.' I have, 

 alas ! spent nearly all my life, and I have never searched 

 for the Morel ! Have you, dear reader ? 



February %6th. I have been to-day planting large 

 quantities of the roots of the Tropceolum speciosum in 

 various parts of the garden. These were given to me by 

 a kind neighbour. He says the great secret (and he 13 



p 



