[[1]]
Camp
Sept[ember] 27/[18]85
Sept[ember] 26/[18]85
My dear [Asa] Gray
It is actually a month since your last was written to me, & it is till now unanswered! -Well, at any rate I have announced the arrival of the Mimuli & the most valuable
Miscellanea & Palmers Pringle[']s plants. Certes you have made good use of as of the
Gay plants.
[John] Ball is as usual in Autumn away in Italy, I thought him looking very old & worn
last summer. Poor Wright! -- at our age the old ones drop faster & faster.
Our love, & though late many happy birthdays still to your wife -- who is as often as
ever in our thoughts. The tiles round my fire place here keep her warmly in
remembrance.
Yes the references to volumes pages & plates are horrible plagues, I groan over
them daily. 9/10ths of them are not worth verifying. I am now bored with revising the
reprint of
[[2]] Gen[era] Plant[arum] Part 1. -- I empathise with your Supplement work, but oh
how I wish that you could have been persuaded to throw all other work aside for the
10 last years for Fl[ora]. Bor[eali]. Am[ericana].
We are disgusted with the price put by Treasury on Challenger works, & the
miserable grudging of distribution copies. -- Hemsley's part is spun out in detail &
wanting in grasp.
We have much accelerated the work of intercalation at the Herbarium & shall do
more yet. I am putting away the Indian accessions & am more than ever impressed
with the huge waste of labor[sic] in putting away a few at a time. We had adopted
the supplementary pigeon holes at the ends of large genera & small orders &c.
It is the gigantic accessions that now weigh on us, & to decide[?] where & when to
stop glueing down more specimens is distracting.
We have had Planchon, Baillon, Engler & Radlkofe all at Kew together. *1
[[3]] Charlie's marriage went off most gaily handsomely & quietly at Morton Hall. Ms
Berneys -- she is sister of Tom. Lombe. The Dyers & Grace & higher[?] Palgraves
were there. Mr Berney an old man was too ill to be present. The pair went to
Scotland for a fortnight to fish -- both are fishers! Brian is gone to Australia: -- the
passage money £73: provides for his visiting Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland &
N[ew] Zeal[an]d. This & lodging credit for him in Australia & £1000 to Charlie to
meet as much given by Mrs Berney & a large advance to pay for his new practice
has emptied my purse & seen[?] me[?] into debt to the bank so I must work on.
I am now at Laurineae [Lauraceae] for Fl[ora]. Brit[ish]. Ind[ia]. it is awfully slow
work. I should do the Order differently if I had time, the tribes are not very rational -too much is made of 2 & 4 celled anthers. There are 2 genera in
Beilschmideliae[Beilschmiedia]. Cyanodaphne is I am sure a myth, & its one species
is in two or three other genera as well! I
[[4]] have just finished the triple--nerve Cinnamomums, an impossible list.
Did I tell you that Reggie has taken his Bachelores Sciences degree at the Sorbonne
-- of 29 who went up from his Lycée only 5 got it. -- I am now sending him to the tutor
who had Willy (Mr La Touchein Shropshire) to prepare him for matriculating at L. Un.
It would be a joke if a Bach. es Sc. of Paris were plucked at a London Matricn! & is
possible for I am sure the latter is far away the hardest Exam of the two -- one is over
in 2 forenoons, the other takes 6 hours daily for 6 days. Grace goes back to Paris by
her choice -- preferring it to a finishing governess at home. She is most anxious to
improve herself. Harriet is much better -- Joey & baby well. We are alarmed about
Mrs Rothey[?], who is seriously ill with some ovarian complaint. H. goes out every
day: poor R. is half distracted .
By the way I forgot to ask if you know of any one who cares to buy an excellent copy
of Sustermans['] head of Galileo at Florence by Miss Horner's protegee I have
stupidly forgotten the price, I think £20. Miss Horner requested me to ask any friend
in America -- it is really an excellent copy. With much love to Mrs Gray from us both
Ever *2 Your affectionate & venerable friend | J.D. Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. This sentence is written vertically up the right hand side of page 2.
2. The text from here to the signature is written vertically up the right hand side of
page 4.
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