DECEMBER 139 



was earlier too. Suppose that on December 21st ap- 

 parent noon is at 11.58 A. m., and the sun sets at 3.51 

 p. M. , and on December 14th the apparent noon is at 

 11.55 A.M., and the sun sets at 3.49 p.m. Now the 

 afternoon on December 14th is one minute longer than 

 on December 21st (3 hours 54 minutes to 3 hours 53 

 minutes), and yet the sun has set two minutes earlier 

 (by our watches).' 



December 20th. — Another beautiful afternoon. Such 

 clear yellow skies ! To me the top twigs of Holly bushes 

 against a primrose sky recall, oh ! so many winter days 

 in the past ; long walks through bare woods and rus- 

 tling brown leaves beneath our feet; the closing -in of 

 curtains in the warm fire -lit rooms where we grew up, 

 which in old age I see as plainly as if I had never left 

 the house where I was born. But to return to the 

 weather of this year, the following was in a newspaper a 

 day or two ago : 'A beautiful yellow butterfly was seen 

 disporting itself in the sunshine of yesterday.' I did 

 not see a butterfly here, but Chrysanthemums still 

 linger, Violets are out, and the yellow Jasminium nudi- 

 florum is in unusually full flower. 



I have no Mistletoe here, but I presume I might have 

 it if I cultivated it. It no doubt has become so much 

 rarer from being always cleared out of orchards, the 

 pretty pale -fruited parasite being no friend to the 

 Apple trees. If one wishes to cultivate the Mistletoe, 

 select a young branch of Willow, Poplar, Thorn, or an 

 old Apple or Pear tree, and on the underside slit the 

 bark to insert the seed. The best time to do this is in 

 February. One may merely rub a few seeds on the out- 

 side of the bark, but that is not so safe as inserting 

 them actually under the bark. Raising Mistletoe from 

 seed is better than either grafting or budding. 



This is a good time for planting Ivies. There are 



