No summary available.

JDH writes to his wife Hyacinth from Boston, where he is staying with the Sargents. Sargent is in charge of the Harvard Botanic Garden & Arnold Arboretum. JDH is often with the Strachey's. JDH describes Boston: including the hot weather, wide streets, large wooden houses in the suburbs, the cleanliness of the city & good public transport. He lists some of the many kinds of trees in Boston: Hickory, American Ash, Elms, Maples, Oaks, Horse Chestnuts, Limes & Poplars. He comments that the working class people have a good standard of living & are generally well mannered & educated. Comments on the high price of food, except fruit, particularly mentions bananas imported in quantity from the West Indies, they do not taste as good as Kew's bananas. Comments on the 'nasal twang' in the Boston accent. Massachusetts has been settled since 1620, JDH thinks it is likely the nicest part of the United States of America. He describes the University, public park, abundance of flags & monuments. Describes a visit to Belvedere on the coast, common plants included: Cypripedia, Vaccinia, Pyrolas & Orchis, roses, brambles & raspberries. Trees are a mix of pines, Hemlock, Juniper, Spruces & deciduous trees & there are many ferns & mosses. Went to Read Hawthorn's house in Salem to see a museum & natural history institute endowed by Peabody. Describes the zoology summer school held there & a similar botany school at Harvard where the teaching is practical as well as lectures. Describes Sargent's dairy, especially the method of controlling temperature. Describes Forest Hills cemetery & the way U.S.A. cemeteries are run. Visited Mr Hunnewell at his property in Wellesley, describes the garden. It is opposite a property given to the state by Mr Durant for a college to educate women as teachers, also described. Strachey received a telegram from Lord Salisbury re. trouble in India. The party next go to Newport, New York, Cincinnati & the state capital of Colorado south of Colorado Springs.

JDH writes to his wife Lady Hyacinth Hooker about his unpleasant voyage on board the 'Parthia' [to Boston, USA]. It is a screw ship rather than a paddle wheel steamer & the strange motion makes many of the passengers sea sick. Other passengers include: an Irish relation of Mrs [Jane Loring] Gray; a relative of Motley's daughter who married Sir William Harcourt MP the brother of Harcourt of Nuneham; the Strachey's [Sir Richard & Lady Jane Maria]. JDH has spent a lot of time reading in his cabin, he has read: [Baron Thomas Babington] Macaulay, [John] Evelyn's diary, Keye's lives of Eminent Indians, some of [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow's Poems & one volume of [Charles] Lyell's 1st journey in America. Describes the ship's captain as 'a bright intelligent Scotsman' who engaged in debate about the effects of emotion & principles. The ship doctor is an Irish Army surgeon who served in India & is a good storyteller. The long journey & poor travelling conditions have put JDH off another trip across the Atlantic to America unless Hyacinth persuades him. The letter continues after JDH's arrival at Boston Harbour. Motley & [Charles Sprague] Sargent will come to meet JDH & party on a Government steamer & escort them through customs. In a post script JDH adds that he has been made welcome in Cambridge, Massachusetts & will start soon for Colorado. Requests that [John] Smith & [Sir William Turner] Thiselton-Dyer send a corrected copy of the fern list to Professor Sargent.

No summary available.

JDH describes his passage on board a steamer ship. He complains about the drink especially the brandy & will try the wine as he does not think it will effect his ears. He sends his love to family members, Reginald Hawthorn Hooker, Grace Ellen Hooker & Mrs Symonds. Sends his apologies for not writing to his mother from Liverpool but he was shopping with the Stracheys until the last minute. West winds are making the passage slow.

No summary available.

No summary available.

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].

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.