[[1]] Royal Gardens Kew Aug[ust] 30/[18]67. For heavens sake my dear Gray do publish a sylloge *1 of your Bot[anical] miscellaneous writings, as Montague has done. I am collecting materials for Rubiaceae for Gen[era] Plant[arum], & turning to "A Gray" in catalogues of Books for probable references, I find a chaos of titles of papers amongst in which Heaven only knows whether I am to look for Rubiaceae, or no. it is a cruel cruel shame. I shall lose two days (if I have an hour or two each) & more probably as ma[n]y weeks [[2]] wading through your multitudinous contributions. -- I have between 60 & 70 sections under your name in my (by no means complete) Library catalogue. -Indeed my dear fellow it is impossible not to be cross when one comes to the America[n] published materials for Gen[era] Plant[arum]. & I do think that it is very unfair to pitchfork material into the world as has been done your side the water: & leave us on this to cock *2 it & stack it for you, not to talk of threshing it afterwards & grinding & baking it [[3]] into Genera Plantarum or other bread (leavened or unleavened as the case may be) -- I really am sick of it -- , v cross & angry to boot. My poor mother is very ill at Norwich of Enteritis & Pentacitis -- I left her Saturday a little better. & out of danger, but the sequelae *3. in a person of her age (70) are much to be dreaded. I have given up Dundee & go again to Norwich tomorrow. No news of Bentham. -- Oliver not back from Skye --. Milligan is distributing his Tasmania collections & asked me where to send a set, I [[4]] said to you. Ever your cantankerously affectionate | Jos D Hooker [signature] It is all I can do to keep on decent civil language with you -- I am so riled put[?] now I firmly believe that Bentham & I lose as much time over American Botanical literature as over that of all other countries put together -- it is impossible for you, living on the spot, & having grown with the growth of Botany in America, to imagine the unutterable confusion there must be, of authors, countries, books, & titles, in the brain of a foreigner to your Bot[anical]: literature, geography &c. ENDNOTES 1. A collection 2. As in hay cock, meaning a pile of hay left in the field. 3. A condition which is the consequence of a previous disease [pl.] Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.