[[1]]
ROYAL GARDENS KEW
April 14/[18]73
Dear Lady Jardine *1
The Epimedium is pinnatum. The Elm is Elaeagnus, & the species is probably a variety
of E. hortensis, which yields an eatable being much used for making sherbet in the
East. I can find no species called odoratus or Edulis -- but
[[2]] it may be some lately introduced Japan species of which we know is nothing.
Elaeagnus odoratus is no doubt the name intended by the seller.
The moss arrived yesterday & is excellent. We are most thankful Mr Smith begs hard
that I should entreat
[[3]] you & get him three sacks ful[sic] more, letting us either pay the expense if Sir
William won[‘]t hear of that, let us make your gardner[sic] a present of a sovereign for
his trouble -- Now dear Lady J[ardine]. do you think you can manage that for us I
don[‘]t ask you to excuse my exigeancy[sic] for I am
[[4]] sure you would not let me do that. Though oh & indeed I ought to!
We should be as glad of 180 more Gualtherias & any quantity stuffed in of the
Epimedium & Asarum & Sanguinaria.
Do let us know what stove hot house or green house plants we can offer you in
return. now have
[[5]] faith when you ask! & don[‘]t be shy. & above all thank Sir W[illiam]. heartily.
I am now about to lay out & shrub the terrace opposite the new range, & shall make
some beds with peat & fill them with the Gualtherias & plant in it all masses of
Asarum & Epimedium & Sanguinaria, & shall call the beds after you. I have a notion
that I can grow Cyclamens, & many other things in such beds which we cannot do in
our ordinary Kew soil.
Our Montrose[?] trip is knocked on the head by the sad illness of George Henslow,
F[rancis']s. youngest brother who has utterly knocked
[[6]] himself up with work of all sorts & is paralysed very suddenly. H[arriet?]. has
been helping to nurse in London. This is a sad affair. He had just remarried, a very
nice & suitable person, & has 3[?] young children & 2 houses of pupils on his hands;
handles[?] Lectures on Botany & what not. We shall wait a little to see the issue,
which may be quick or may take months. Paget says he will never be better -- he is
quite bedridden. F[rancis]. is far from well. she will go to the Darwin[‘]s for a few days
for a change that is close by. The Darwin’s[sic] were in town for a month, he very
well.
With sincere regard to Sir W[illia]m
Ever affec[ionate]ly y[our]s | Jos D Hooker [signature]
Please send all by Luggage train or Goods train
[[7]] *2 With regard to Sir William[']s criticisms please tell him, that no flora, (especially
a compendious one) makes any pretension to be a plant--hunter's guide. -- All it can
do is, indicate broadly districts &c.
1. He says "There are areas of Erica cinerea in Sutherlands trees" -- surely this is
consistent with my statement of its growing in the British Isles generally on "heaths & commons"
which implies that it is universal.
2. That "2,200 ft in the Highlands is too vague" -- how better would he express it.
2195 -- 576941 ?
3.Solanum nigrum grows at Craigmillar -- no doubt; but it is not indigenous there -- I
say it grows "from Ayre & FIfe southwards, but is not indigenous in Scotland" & I stick
to it.
[[8]] 3.[sic] "Epidemedium alpinum has "been sent to Sir W[illia]m this month from a wood in
Dumfriesshire. "Therefore why is it excluded" -- because it is not indigenous in the
said wood & was it so it was not sent to me & my book was out before "this month"!
4 "Hymenophyllum wilsonii grows in Loch Lomond" -- when do I say that it does not?
-- I say shaded rocks & copses extending to Orkney & Shetland" Surely this includes
Loch Lomond ! -5 I say Typha angustifolia is rare in Scotland, & Sir W[illiam]. says it is not, because it
abounds in Loch--Maben Is Loch--Maben all Scotland; or are fortunes of 200 000 easy
20 000 not rare in England, because Lord Sassoon plenty such may be found in Lombard
Street. ?
ENDNOTES
1. Lady Hyacinth Jardine (1842--1921). Wife of Sir William Jardine; 6th Baronet of
Applegirth and distinguished naturalist. She was Widowed in 1874 and married Sir
Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1876.
2. The following text is from a single sheet of paper inserted after the valediction,
which appears to be associated with this letter but the attribution is uncertain.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
electronic image(s) of this document where possible.