portation from China. It has a silky sheen, soft and rich. I saw some that had long red bunches of currant-like berries ambushed among the foliage. At a distance, in certain lights, they give the tree a pinkish tint and a new charm.
There is an agricultural college eight miles from Horsham.
We were driven out to it by its chief. The conveyance was
an open wagon; the time, noonday; no wind; the sky without a cloud, the sunshine brilliant—and the mercury at 92° in
the shade. In some countries an indolent unsheltered drive of
an hour and a half under such conditions would have been a_(page_232_crop).jpg)
A WIDE SPACE.
sweltering and prostrating experience; but there was nothing of that
in this case. It is a climate that
is perfect. There was no sense of
heat; indeed, there was no heat;
the air was fine and pure and exhilarating; if the drive had lasted half
a day I think we should not have
felt any discomfort, or grown silent
or droopy or tired. Of course, the
secret of it was the exceeding dryness of the atmosphere. In that
plain 112° in the shade is without
doubt no harder upon a man than is
88° or 90° in New York.
The road lay through the middle of an empty space which seemed to me to be a hundred yards wide between the fences. I was not given the width in yards, but only in chains and perches—and furlongs, I think. I would have given a good deal to know what the width was, but I did not pursue the matter. I think it is best to put up with information the way you get it; and seem satisfied with it, and surprised at it, and grateful for it, and say, "My
