The garden looks dull just now; but four weeks of no rain always produces that effect on this soil. When the showers do come, everything revives in the most extraordinary way, partly from the earth being so warm and dry. The only rather showy things in the garden are some early red Ehododendrons, and they look droopy; a Siberian Crab, which has been one mass of snowy-white blossoms for a fortnight; and a most desirable little shrub called Deutzia elegans, quite hardy, totally unaffected by our coldest winters, flowering every year, and wanting no attention except the cutting-back every year after flowering. Berberises I do not find quite so hardy as one expects them to be, but this very likely is because they do not grow very robust, owing to the dryness of the soil. B. Darwinii was nearly killed by the severe winter, but is now flowering profusely, and is a lovely and desirable shrub. The whole charm of flowering shrubs, to my mind, depends on their being given lots of room, and sufficient care being taken of them to make them individually healthy plants. The dear little pink Daphne sneorum is doing well, but I have myself often given it a canful of water during the last fortnight. It is very much strengthened if, after the flowering, you layer a certain number of the branches, covering them with a little peat; this enables you to increase your stock of plants, and improves the size of your specimen plant.

All this last month we have been eating the thinnings of seedling Lettuces as salad, and they are most delicious. All kinds of Lettuces seem to eat equally well; they are grown in boxes in a frame. I first thought of eating them from seeing that they were thrown away to give room for those that were going to be planted out. I now purposely grow them in extra quantities, and in succession, so that my salads may never fall short. Even out of doors, in the summer, we sometimes grow them if our large Lettuces run to seed. They make infinitely better salad than the tough little brown Cos Lettuces, grown with such care in frames all through the winter. All the year round I always mix the salad on the table myself, using nothing but oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; and I always have brought to table, on a separate little plate, some herbs, Tarragon, Chervil, and some very young Onions; these I cut up over the Lettuces before I mix in the oil and vinegar. If you have no young Onions, Chive-tops do very well. These herbs are an immense addition to any salad, but are far from universally used in England, though they are quite easy to grow, for anyone who has a kitchen garden, even a small one. The Tarragon, however, and the Onions have to be grown in the conservatory in the winter. Many young gardeners do not know that the secret of young Potatoes being good, and not watery, is to take them out of the ground several days before you boil them. A little Mint chopped on to young Potatoes instead of Parsley makes a pleasant change; but then we English like Mint, and it is very different here from the Mint grown in dry countries, which is just like Peppermint. The French have a way of boiling Asparagus which is especially good for the thin green Asparagus so common in our English gardens:-You tie them into a bundle, and put them, stalk downwards, into a fairly deep saucepan. In this way the heads are only cooked by the steam, and do not become soppy.