dead." "Four robinias, or red locusts," were to take the place of others in the northeast and southwest angles. "Four prickly ash" were likewise to be put in these angles.
There was a wedding in the family at Monticello, just previous to Jefferson's retirement from the presidency, and he was called on to give his blessing to Anne, the bride, the grandchild of his heart. Later in distress, he wrote her: "What is to become of our flowers? I left them so entirely to yourself that I never knew anything about them; what they are, where they grow, what is to be done for them. You must really make out a book of instructions for Ellen, who has fewer cares in her head than I have."
"Apropos of plants," he wrote her in the early days of her marriage, which had taken her from Monticello, "make a thousand apologies to Mrs. Bankhead for the favor proposed of cape jessamine. It will be cherished with all possible attention, and in return proffer her calycanthus, pecan, silk trees, Canada martagnon, or anything else we have."
Ellen, the letter-writer of the family, handled much of the news. "The sweet-scented grass I shall take all possible care of," she wrote. "The pot was broken on the way. It was tied together, but I shall have to remove the grass soon in another box. Your orange trees come on very well as to their looks, but I never saw such little short things in my life. They are now near eighteen months old, and they are not as high (any of them) as my hand is large."
"I am glad the sweet-scented grass got safe, although the pot did not," wrote the president to Ellen.
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