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14th.—The weather for some days has been extremely fine, so that we feared the rain was all over; but this day, towards evening, the wind became very strong, which brought on heavy rain. I have planted, since it dried up, melon, cucumber, and pumpkin seeds: the melon seed is from one which weighed fifteen pounds; and the parent cucumber weighed four pounds. Our turnips are running to seed this year; and this is a general complaint here: we must renew our seed from home. Send me some seeds of early York and sugar-loaf, flat Dutch or drum-head cabbages, Swedish and white Norfolk turnip, cauliflower, and mangel-wurzel.
I do not know to which part of your letters to address myself first. Surely I must have already answered or anticipated all your queries. You ask, "of what is the thatch of our houses composed:" every one uses whatever suitable material is most easily procured in his neighbourhood. I used long sedge and bulrushes, some straw, and the tops of the grass-tree; battens or wattles, like laths, are nailed at regular distances across the rafters; the thatch is laid on these, and tied or sewed down with a long needle and rope yarn. The bark of trees has been tried for thatch, and it answers pretty well, if carefully applied. Mr. Brown has an outside covering of it, about fourteen inches in thickness, over a shingled roof, to keep out heat, but it is expensive. You inquire, "of what quality is my land on the Swan?" This is a very general and comprehensive question. I forget how many thousand varieties of earth old Evelyn reckons: I will not say there are so many varieties on my land, yet it varies considerably. I can give you a section of it.[1] On the alluvial land, the grass-wattle and the gum-trees flourish; on another portion, the herbage is of inferior quality, and the trees are consequently of a dwarfish and shrubby nature: one of these looks and smells like white-thorn, and has a
