This is a study for the second illustration for April in the Chatto and Windus Almanack, 1927.  There are a number of dissimilarities between the study and the illustration, which includes members of the Spencer family as a frieze in the foreground.  Both versions include the young man, possibly the artist’s brother Sydney, who stands on a chair to cut the privet hedge in front of Fernlea.  He holds the shears at arm’s length.