... I go over two or three times a
week, as I have two gardeners at work. In the summer (should I be still
in the land of the living) I hope you will be able to come and see our
little estate, which is to be called by the descriptive name of "Old
Orchard." I have got a good architect to make the working drawings and
he has designed a very picturesque yet unpretentious house.--Yours very
truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO MR. W.G. WALLACE
_Parkstone, Dorset. March 2, 1902._
My dear Will,--This week's progress has been fairly good although the
wet after the frost has caused two falls in the cellar excavations, and
we have had to put drain pipes to carry water out, though not much
accumulated.... During the week some horses in the field have not only
eaten off the tops of the privet hedge, but have torn up some dozens of
the plants by the roots, by putting their heads over the 4-foot wire
fence. I am therefore obliged in self-defence to raise the post a foot
higher and put barbed wire along the top of it. Some cows also got in
our ground one day and ate off the tops of the newly planted laurels,
which I am told they are very fond of, so I have got a chain and padlock
for our gate....
* * * * *
We moved into the new house at Broadstone at the end of November, 1902,
before it was quite finished, and here Dr.
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