JDH has received letters forwarded by Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer. He is concerned by the letter from Henry Prestoe about the Trinidad Botanic Garden, JDH will talk to the Colonial Office & Secretary of State for Colonies; Henry Herbert. He also recommends that Prestoe get a statement of support for the Trinidad garden into the GARDENERS CHRONICLE & other English papers. Mentions a blunder about a Pelargonium on the part of Alfred Russel Wallace & [John] Morley. JDH thinks that the exhibition of 'Scientific Mind' damaged the reputation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science by including Spiritualism, he thinks it was a poor decision by [Augustus Henry] Lane Fox. Mentions the news that Hevea [rubber] plants are not doing well & says the issue must be addressed with Clements Markham, he suggests an official representation from RBG Kew by [Sir Richard] Strachey, whose scientific position is acknowledged by Lord Salisbury [Robert Gascoyne Cecil, Secretary of State for India]. JDH is not surprised that [George Henry Kendrick] Thwaites does not like his job [of establishing Cinchona nurseries in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka]. JDH mentions an affliction affecting the Darwin family. JDH regrets the death of [Francis] Sibson, his son William Henslow Hooker's mentor. Wonders if [John] Duthie got his letter. Describes the weather in Aviemore. Next JDH will go to Stirling, visit [Brian Houghton] Hodgson & to Ailey Cottage to see Mr Woodward. Letters should be addressed to JDH care of James Findlay, Gargunnock. JDH asks for Thiselton-Dyer's ideas on what he could say at his next Royal Society address, he would like to talk about fossil botany.

JDH describes his impressions of Sir W. Stirling Maxwell's home at Keir near Stirling, [Scotland], including the interiors of the house, the library & art collections, & garden design & management. JDH is grateful to learn from Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer that the Hevea [rubber] matter is settled. He is uncertain what to do about Prestoe's affairs. JDH thanks WTTD for signing cheques for his daughter [Harriet Hooker later Thiselton-Dyer]. JDH approves of WTTD going to the Hereford Fungus Show to maintain RBG Kew's profile. Mentions a Mr Phillips & the British Museum buying Nylander's collection of herbarium specimens. RBG Kew, through Daniel Oliver, should co-ordinate the fungi they are buying with Berkeley so they do not duplicate. Discusses replacing Gammie & Hartog, the latter [as Assistant Director of Peradeniya Botanic Garden] possibly with Traill, thought JDH does not think that [George Henry Kendrick] Thwaites will be happy with anyone as his deputy. JDH is scathing of Edgeworth's work published in the Linnean Society Transactions, calling his species 'Chimaeras…seen in wood-cuts of SCIENCE GOSSIP' but advises WTTD to maintain silent contempt rather than denounce Edgeworth. JDH blames Curry & Allman [as officers of the Linnean Society] & W. Smith for not giving his opinion in writing to the Linnean Society Council. JDH notes that he is considering making his Royal Society address about fossil botany, with allusions to Williamson's papers & Hector's discoveries in New Zealand, Sapoteas & the question of temperate forests in arctic regions. He would also like to caution against introducing subjects such as spiritualism to scientific meetings.

JDH thanks Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] for his letter about his travels in North Italy containing admiration for Verona & Saint Marks of Venice. JDH recalls admiring the whole of Venice & the powerful paintings of Titian & Paul Veronese in the Scuola or Academia. Neither JDH nor WTTD like Tintoretto's paintings. JDH recommends WTTD go to Antibes. JDH updates WTTD on the ongoing dispute with the British Museum regarding the collections from the HMS 'Challenger' Expedition. JDH does not think the Treasury should have been involved & will argue that control should go to [Sir Charles Wyville] Thomson with oversight from the Royal Society. JDH is hopeful that the money will be granted for the herbarium men. JDH describes the appointee to the position of Bailiff of the Parks & his salary. Humphreys has been asking about WTTD in connection with an examination. Two seeds of Welwitschia have germinated but been killed by carelessness, there is also a young Welwitschia a foot long. JDH complains about [Richard] Lynch, who has lost all the [George] Nares plants. JDH declares that running an establishment such as RBG Kew requires scientific method. JDH describes the 'No. 4' [green] house as 'miserable', Seward is to be dismissed & JDH or WTTD will have to take the house in hand. JDH is going to spend 3 days with [George] Allman & will work on his Royal Society address.

JDH informs William Thiselton-Dyer [WTD] that he has sent his wife[?] & books by train to him at Betws-y-coed. JDH discusses the controversy surrounding the RBG Kew boundary wall, Mitford [First Commissioner of Works] supports JDH but Engleheart, the Selwyn's & Stock & Co object. JDH has complained about the substandard materials Carless provided for painting[?] the Palm House & recommended that his contract be terminated. He is frustrated that Wilkie did nothing to stop Carless & it fell to Smith to 'shut the gates' on him. Discusses the poor heating system in the herbarium. Gregory is keen to employ [Daniel] Morris at Ceylon [Peradeniya Botanic Garden] in place of [Marcus Manuel] Hartog. JDH has prepared 3 months of the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE & will ask [Daniel] Oliver to look after it from here on.

JDH received William Thiselton-Dyer's [WTD's] letter of 13 July [1877] at Denver, Colorado. He is glad WTD is not overwhelmed by the duties of RBG Kew Director in JDH's absence. Mrs Hodgson wrote to JDH about visiting WTD & his wife Harriet Thiselton-Dyer. JDH is working learning a lot about western conifers, especially the Pines of Colorado, which are very diverse & incl. Pinus edulis, P. ponderosa P. aristata, P. flexilis, Abies douglasii, A. menziesii, A. engelmannii, Picea concolor, Juniperus virginiana, J. occidentalis & J. communis. Of these western American species only the Junipers are found East of the Rocky Mountains. JDH has collected 500 species. Next the party travels East to the Wahasatch [Wasatch] Mountains beyond Salt Lake to get a glimpse of the West Colorado vegetation where Pinus edulis gives way to P. monophylla. They will go to Nevada & the Taxodium grove via Carson & Silver City then via Calavera & Mariposa to San Francisco, the Redwood [Sequoioideae] district & Monterey. JDH's travelling companion Asa Gray should write a general description of the botanical geography of North America, they may write something jointly for Hayden's Survey. The Stracheys are good company. Discusses improvements being made at RBG Kew: replacement of the boilers [in the Palm House] with 'Rivers' Boilers', the controversy over the height of the [RBG Kew boundary] wall, bad work done by a contractor & poor foundations of the Palm House. JDH is anxious to give up his duties at the Royal Society & focus on RBG Kew. JDH has seen the RBG Kew report published in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. Mentions news regarding his sons Charles Paget Hooker & Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker. JDH is suffering with diarrhoea & travelling through wilderness has left him bruised. He does not have the energy he once had, though he did climb Gray's Peak to 14,300 feet. Recounts the feeling of being at the top of the peak during an electrical storm with Mr Darrell, son of Judge Darrell of Bermuda.

No summary available.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer from New Haven, Connecticut where he is staying with his friend, the fern specialist, Daniel Cady Eaton. JDH admires the green & varied scenery of all the eastern states he has seen. JDH travelled from the Sierra Nevada to Niagara falls, then to Albany & to Poughkeepsie to visit the Vassar College for girls where the astronomers Miss Mitchell & Miss Sommerville are based. Also saw grounds of [Henry Winthrop] Sargent at Fishkill before going on to New York. In New York JDH went to both museums of natural history in Central Park & met their heads: Albert Smith Bickermore & Frederick Law Olmsted. At New Haven JDH has met, or soon will: Othniel Charles Marsh, James Dwight Dana & William Henry Brewer. Marsh is busy with dinosaur remains discovered in the Rocky Mountains, JDH has seen the bones in Arkansas Canon. A botanist named Brewer formerly of the California Survey gave JDH useful information on the distribution of Pines. JDH discusses his return to England from Boston, he may be delayed there & will use the time to name his specimens at Asa Gray's herbarium & work on his Royal Society address. He will resign as President of the Royal Society at the end of the session. He notes that nobody in the United States of America has received a copy of the [RBG Kew Annual] Report. In a post script dated 24 Sep 1877 JDH writes of the arrival of his collections at New Haven. JDH has received a letter from WTTD with news of insubordination from the gardeners at RBG Kew, he discusses the degree to which John Smith & George Nicholson are at fault & to a lesser degree John Reader Jackson & William Granger. JDH disapproves of the raising of such men as Jackson, [Alexander] Moore & Nicholas Edward Brown to positions that make it hard to dismiss them. For discipline of the constables they should be regularly inspected. JDH mentions that his son Charles Paget Hooker has not passed his Chemistry [exam].

JDH writes about the very bad health of [John] Smith, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, whose doctors, Paget & Walshe, say he has a heart condition. Attacks of the illness often render Smith completely immobile, he has palpitations & severe pain. JDH goes on to give his own medical opinion that Smith has worsening heart disease but for Smith's state of mind it would be better not to have it officially diagnosed. JDH has not seen much of the British Association for the Advancement of Science [48th meeting, Dublin, Ireland]. However, he has sent Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer[WTTD] [William] Spottiswoode's address & [William Henry] Flower's paper on the Linnaean classification of mammals. JDH did not hear [Thomas Henry] Huxley's address as he spent the day with [Alexander] Moore, the Gardener at Glasnevin; where JDH admired the collection of tree ferns & the conifers. JDH has met Suringar & the man WTTD corresponds with about Sinapis glauca. [Alexander] Dickson, [John Hutton?] Balfour & [James] Britten all refused botanical visitors. JDH will take Flower's place at the Botany & Zoology section. Tickets to lectures at the Royal Dublin Society wer sold out to townspeople before any of the delegates arrived. The geologists' section has been quarrelling & 'set upon [William] Pengelly'. An afternoon given by the Lord Lieutenant, John Spencer-Churchill, at Vice Regal Lodge was ruined by bad weather. [John] Sadler has not turned up. JDH criticises the House of Commons office for printing the [Annual RBG Kew?] Report from an uncorrected copy. JDH has asked his son Charles Paget Hooker to visit his Aunt, & will probably send him to Edinburgh. JDH intends to go next to Killarney.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer about his travels in Ireland [with his wife Lady Hyacinth Hooker]. They have travelled from Dublin to Muckross in Killarney & seen the Torc Cascade with Suringar & a geologist, as well as the Gap of Dunloe & the lakes. From Muckross they went to Queenstown, Cork where they have met with [William Edward] Gumbleton & the Bagwells. JDH describes these people & their fine gardens, he particularly mentions the Fuchsias & Escallonias. At Cork JDH also met with Brady, who went to Morocco, [Archibald] Liversidege Professor of Geology at Sydney New South Wales, & the Miss Townsends with their uncle. JDH plans to see more gardens around Cork before returning to Dublin to see Glassnevin & Powerscourt & travelling on to Pendock.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer about his time in Paris. He [& his wife Hyacinth Hooker] could not stay at the Hotel de Famille & have been forced to take rooms at an inferior establishment; Hotel l'Amiral. They have been to the Exhibition [Third Paris World's Fair] where JDH admired the Japanese edibles such as Pteris aquilina in syrup, also a collection of bamboos, the Englsih glass & French artificial flowers but he got bored with the amount of porcelain on show. They have also been to Cluny, a prize giving at the Palais d'Industrie & briefly to an overcrowded ball at the 'Ministre of Agriculture & Commerce'. JDH will go to a speech by the exhibition jurors & to see the Prince at the British Embassy. JDH has met with William Munro & together they will go to the Jardin de Plantes to visit Joseph Decaisne. JDH & Hyacinth dine daily with Mr & Mrs Ragnel, Hyacinth's aunt. Due to rain they will not attend the ball at Versailles. JDH approves of the improvements being made in Paris but finds the city very noisy, smelly & poorly designed for pedestrians. The Palais Royal does not have the quality shops it used to, good jewellery especially is now to be found further West. JDH is worrying about his [Royal Society] Address, he asks WTTD to help him by preparing a list of significant scientific developments. In a post script JDH ads that the Duval Bouillons are: 'so full one cannot get near them'.

JDH agrees that he & Sir William Thiselton-Dyer should pay for [John Reader] Jackson's trip to Paris. JDH advises caution in dealing with [Daniel] Oliver, he believes that seclusion has led to Oliver developing 'erroneous views'. Gunther was proposed for a Royal Medal a year earlier than Oliver. The Exhibition [Exposition Universelle, third Paris World's Fair] will close at the end of November but exhibitors can sell off exhibits from the end of October.

JDH writes to Sir WilliamTurner Thiselton-Dyer about John Reader Jackson [Keeper of the RBG Kew museums] attending the Paris Exhibition [Third Paris World's Fair]. JDH would also like to take Jackson to the Jardin des Plantes. JDH has attended a deputation from the Colonies to the Prince [Princes of Wales, later Edvard VII] offering him the colonial collections from the exhibition to establish a colonial museum. These collections will be stored in the South Kensington galleries [Victoria and Alber Museum] temporarily which means that RBG Kew will not get the Douglas fir but they wil get a Xanthorrhoea, a tree fern stem probably of Alsophilia cooperi & some other unspecified things. JDH has seen Brand's[?] collection of woods but was not impressed by the display. JDH visits the exhibition daily& is also often at the Embassy with the Prince, who sympathises with keeping RBG Kew shut [to the public during the mornings] but suggests a compromise. JDH still needs to see the horticulture diaplays at the exhbition. Also, to meet with M. Pierre about publishing Pierre's collections with government assistance, about which Joseph Decaisne is sceptical. The balls or 'fetes' at Versailles & the Ministries have been badly organised, JDH [& his wife Hyacinth Hooker] spend the evenings with the Regnals[?], relations of Hyacinth's & the Symonds family. They have been to the Hippodrome. They will catch the Boulogne train home. JDH is returning the proofs of the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE to Reeve, the publishers. William Munro is leaving for Dieppe having been disappointed with the grasses at the Jardin des Plantes. JDH reports some gossip about John Forbes Watson leaving the India Office.

JDH provides Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer with the address of Edward Delmar Morgan & asks him to send brochures & an Aponogeton to Edward de Regel there. There is a large party with JDH at Tortwort [Court], incl: Froude & daughter, Martin Theodore & wife, Lord & Lady Somers, Lord Aberdeen & daughter, Mr & Mrs York of Pendock, J Shaw Lefevre & his wife who is Lord Ducie's daughter, Alfred Denison brother of the late Speaker, Mrs Stewart or Stuart. When he returns JDH will arrange to send some Dahlias to Lady Ducie. JDH asks Thiselton-Dyer to send him some leaves of Parrottia [Parrotia persica or Persian ironwood]. He notes that Ducie & Somers are both mad about their gardens & trees. JDH adds in a post script that he saw [Brian Harvey Houghton] Hodgson at the train station, he was going to Chippenham & looked very ill with gout. In a further post script JDH adds that he has visited Hodgson & he looked better.

Letter informing Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer of the death of JDH's niece Willielma Campbell née Hooker. Her mother Isabella [Whitehead Hooker] has not been clear about the cause of Willielma's death. She will be buried at the Glasgow necropolis near the High Church. JDH & family will travel to Glasgow & stay at the Royal Hotel, Georges' Square.

JDH discusses the displeasure of John Smith, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, at his proposed removal from the Curator's House to a more manageable dwelling, such as Baker or Taylor's house, owing to Smith's illness. JDH has explained to Smith that the plan is to keep him on as Curator, even if he cannot walk, but hire an Assistant Curator to help him, & that these measures are being taken in the hope of prolonging Smith's life. JDH reports that Smith blamed one Mr Curndale for being deceitful about the matter & claimed he had heard rumours the job had been offered to Dunne or someone else whose legs worked, through the Duke of Buccleugh [Buccleuch]. JDH suggests this rumour may have arisen if the Duke spoke to Noel or Mitford [of the Office of Works] about the post on Dunne's behalf. JDH suspects Smith's wife is causing trouble over the matter & it has appeared in the Richmond papers. JDH has just received an invitation to the funeral of his niece, Willielma Campbell née Hooker at St George's Church, close to the Hotel JDH will be staying at [Royal Hotel].

JDH writes to inform Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer that [Isabella] Hooker has asked JDH [& his wife Hyacinth] to stay at Largs for a few days after the funeral [of Willielma Dawson Campbell] to support the widower James Campbell. He mentions the Glasgow weather & the aragnements for the funeral at St George's Church. JDH has been walking around Glasgow remebering the places he & his brother [William Dawson Hooker] used to visit when they lived there from 1821 to 1839. They did not like Glasgow but it holds many memories never the less.

JDH informs Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] that he has located a C.O. [Colonial Office?] paper previously thought lost. He had shown it to Sir [William Fullerton?] Elphinstone & some Cingalese visitors. JDH also informs WTTD that he has written to Palgrave, Reid, Spottiswoode & Syme. JDH advises that Callender should be told about 'the article' that appeared in the GARDENERS' CHRONICLE regarding rotten beams in the Victoria House & Fern House at RBG Kew. JDH does not approve of the article but as the beams were clearly visible to visitors he is not surprised. JDH asks WTTD to reply to Taylor & Wilkie on his behalf. JDH discusses niceties to avoid offending Oliver when not sending plants through his officer: Baker. Sending the plants can be delayed until JDH returns except in the in the case of Asa Gray's plants.

No Summary available.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] about attending a cattle sale at Dunmore with [James] Colvile. He describes his rooms at Tullyallan [Tulliallan] Castle near Kincardine in Fife. He mentions that Lord Keith filled the house with pictures of Naval engagements & mezzotints of [George] Romney, [Sir Joshua] Reynolds & [John Singleton] Copley & [Francesco] Bartollzzi's things. He describes the house's current owner, Lord William Osborne, who served at the Siege of Bhurtpore & under Colvile's uncle Lord Auckland. He came to Tulliallan through his wife, 'Lady William' [Georgina Augusta Henrietta Keith], & now lives a life of leisure. JDH also describes 'Lady William'. Other people at Tulliallan were: Lady Julia Wombwell, Lord Moreton who is Lord Ducie's son & a Cattle breeder, & a Parson from Ross in Hereford. He describes the cattle sale & the prices fetched. JDH has received letters from WTTD & approves of all his suggestions & his improved letter regarding a grant. JDH is concerned about [John] Smith's health & recommends that WTTD consult Dr Laurence & refer to the kindness of Cundale, for example in the rolling machine accident, & the mischief of a previous doctor called Davis. Mentions the contract for the 'T' [Temperate?] House & potential appintments to natural history positions in Scotland for [E. Ray?] Lankester, [Henry Alleyne] Nicholson of St Andrews & William Carmichael McIntosh. Also mentions: memo to [Algernon Freeman]-Mitford & the board regarding Wilkie, Smith & the management of Kew's buildings by the Clerk of Works; letter about Ceylon [Sri Lanka] forests; [Mordecai Cubitt] Cooke's work on fungi; & [John] Macoun's Canadian plants. Discusses the housing of [John] Peacock's succulents, he would prefer an annex be built on the succulent house to continuing the displacement of the Australian plants from the Octagon. JDH sends his regards to the Brightwen family. He approves of the dismissal of Taylor based on 'neglect of orders'.

JDH addresses a series of points raised in a recent letter from Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer. the subjects are as follows: Indian Museum Collections coming from the India Office to RBG Kew, a potential site for [Marianne North's] Gallery, the colour of the glass houses, letters from Gerard Noel [First Commisioner of Works], arranging for Marianne North to visit Kew, JDH's return from Scotland in time to catch Morris, 'the Works' affair', a letter to Wilson & Cadder, & a matter that prompts JDH to feel sorry for 'Wall'. JDH adds that he is working on Williamson's supplement to his Royal Society paper on Tranquairia, which he claims is the sporange of Lepidonotus & Anellides & that they are macrospores.