No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

Peabody & Co of the United States of America have sent JDH some money, an unexpected remittance of funds deposited with them for his trip in America. JDH tells Asa Gray he is particularly grateful for it as he is trying to raise £800 to set up his son Charles Paget Hooker as a partner in a medical practice in Norfolk. The practice in Coltishall is the same one previously owned by JDH's brother in law, Thomas Evans Lombe, & by a great uncle of JDH's in the previous century. Mentions Gray's correspondence with Henslow. RBG Kew is getting 36 tons of Indian wood & other 'vegetable produce' from the India Store Department. The material is to be accommodated by the RBG Kew museums, necessitating a complete rearrangement, & Sargent would also like a share. Over the last 30 years there has been over collecting of all sorts of things in India due to bad management by the India Museum authorities. He gives the example of Cashmere shawls being left unpacked to ruin in cases. JDH is concerned about the deteriorating production quality of the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE which is not doing justice to the work of the new artist, Mr Barnard. It is published by Reeve & Co who have a bad reputation amongst the trade & craftsmen, e.g. lithographers & printers, for being miserly. Spencer Moore has been dismissed from the RBG Kew herbarium for 'gross insubordination & insolence', JDH calls him 'a lunatic'. Baker is going to work on the Agaves & Fourcroyas. [James Edward Tierney] Aitchison has a lot of news & good things from Afghanistan.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

JDH asks Gray for a reference to General Alvord's first account of the Compass plant [Silphium laciniatum], alluded to by Gray in Silliman's Journal [AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS]. JDH has a drawing of the Compass plant to be published in the Jan number of CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. JDH has had lunch with George Thurber. JDH has received a collection of plants, mostly Cape types, from the plateau of the African Lakes. They were collected by a Mr Thomson, companion of the unfortunate Keith Johnstone. JDH praises Alfred Russel Wallace's book on island distribution [ISLAND LIFE]. JDH writes that he is sending books to Gray, he lists prices for the following publications based on a catalogue: a work by Nees von Essenbeck & Weihe, HISTOIRE PARTICULERE ORCHIDEES RECUEILLIES AUSTRALES by Petit-Thouars, a work by Delile, PLANTES USUÉLLES DES BRÉSILIENS by Saint-Hilaire, a book about ferns of the Antilles, FLORA SARDOA by Moris & FLORA ESPAGÑOLA Ó HISTORIA DE LAS PLANTAS QUE SE CRIAN EN ESPAGÑA by Martinez. JDH suggests that Gray pay £8 for the full 28 volumes he wants. Gray is missed at Kew. The health of JDH's sister Elizabeth Evans-Lombe is improving. JDH & his wife Hyacinth Hooker are both keen to get away for a holiday. [John] Smith is incapacitated by sciatica & it is causing problems with garden duties which may prevent JDH going to Italy.

JDH thanks Gray for sending him notes on the Compass plant [Silphium laciniatum]. Discusses payment for books purchased for Gray. JDH subscribed to Leighton's Lichen Flora so that Leighton would leave his collections to RBG Kew, he is sending a copy of the new edition to Gray. Mrs Bentham has broken her femur. JDH's son Charles Paget Hooker's has been burnt out of his house, the fire killed some livestock & pets. John Smith is incapacitated by sciatica & the garden work is falling to JDH & William Thiselton-Dyer. JDH is relieved it will be his last year on The Royal Society Council, after a total of 16 years duty. He recounts some internal affairs of the Linnean Society, George Bentham resigned due to the appointment of Marie to Kippist's place on the Linnean Council. JDH is disappointed at the appointment of non-scientists as librarian & secretary to the Linnean Society. The Hooker family are well. JDH wishes he could join Gray in Spain but his duties will not allow it. He is busy with the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. Bentham is upset with JDH's slow progress on palms [for GENERA PLANTARUM].

JDH lists some things he has found lying in the RBG Kew herbarium for Gray: newspapers, a letter from Baird about a bronze statue of Henry, a copy of C.E. Norton's CHURCH BUILDING IN THE MIDDLE AGES, & a specimen of Castanea vesca from Martindale with female inflorences imitating male ones. Charles Darwin's MOVEMENTS OF PLANTS is out but JDH thinks that Alfred Russel Wallace's ISLAND LIFE is the best natural history book of the season. [Miles Joseph] Berkeley & his daughter have been staying with the Hooker's but left early as he had an attack of gout. Berkeley has suffered with many ailments throughout his life, he is now 78. Hyacinth Hooker is organising Miss Shepard's rooms.

JDH received a letter from his wife, Lady Hyacinth Hooker, whilst at Montys Court. He is now at Torquay with his sister Bessy [Elizabeth Evans Lombe née Hooker]. He & George Bentham have sorted 'the herbarium' & had it shipped to RBG Kew. JDH will work on the [BOTANICAL] MAGAZINE then join Hyacinth in Pendock. Mr Newman met JDH at Exeter, William Jacobson [Bishop of Chester] is dying at Exmouth, Benjamin Brodie is in Torquay. Mentions his daughter Grace Ellen Hooker. Mentions the political loss of Temple & the state of politics. Sends love to Reverend & Mrs Symonds & to his son Joseph Symonds Hooker.

JDH thanks his wife, Lady Hyacinth Hooker, for her letter. He worries about her health. Mentions people he & [George] Bentham have seen whilst in Torquay: his sister Bessy [Elizabeth Evans Lombe née Hooker], Mr Luscombe, Mr Newman, Sir Benjamin Brodie & Mr [John Charles] Bowring. JDH has visited St Luke's church, which he used to attend with his mother [Lady Maria Hooker née Turner]. He plans to return to Kew via Exeter. JDH does not like travelling without his wife. He sends love to her & his children Gracie [Grace Ellen Hooker] & Joey [Joseph Symonds Hooker].

No summary available.

No summary available.

JDH asks Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] about the schemes of [Sir George Christopher Molesworth] Birdwood and the India Office. He mentiosn Baddely. He advises WTTD on how to manage [John Reader] Jackson. JDH speculates on the amount of work it will take to accession the India Museum collections into the RBG Kew museums including the constrcution of new buildings: museum number 1 & museum number 2. He appreciates WTTD's zeal on the matter but warns him that these things usually move slowly thanks to 'indifferent masters'. JDH will take some work off WTD's hands when he returns, JDH cannot spend all his time working on the GENERA PLANTARUM & FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA, he must take on some of the less pleasant duties as well. He reminds WTTD that the fruit of all his labours can be seen in the [Annual Kew] Report. JDH has written to [John] Smith about RBG Kew staff changes & reassignment of gardening duties, specifically regarding Martin, Trueman, Sharpe & the latter's dereliction of number 4 greenhouse. JDH's health has deteriorated again but he will return to RBG Kew any way.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer about the progress he & George Bentham have made sorting & packing the herbarium [of General William Munro] to be sent to RBG Kew. JDH & Bentham will go to Torquay the following day & JDH will return via Exeter to visit 'old family haunts'.

JDH reports that [John] Smith has returned to RBG Kew in good health & [George] Nicholson has gone on leave. JDH also informs Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer that [Robert] Cross has been in independent communication with Danvers of the India Office, pushig his own agenda regarding the transportation of certain Cinchona plants from RBG Kew. JDH reports Welwitschia seeds are growing well & more cow tree seeds have arrived. Bulbophyllum beccarii has been sent to RBG Kew to be drawn but the stench was so bad that the artist, Matilda Smith, had to give up. JDH & John Smith have surveyed the arboretum & reduced the lawn mowing, they will also surevy the King of Hanover's grounds. He mentions papering the musueum [of economic botany], where [John Reader] Jackson is hard at work. De Candolle & his wife are coming to London to meet Mr & Mrs Asa Gray. JDH has remonstrated [Lovell] Reeve about the bad colouring of the Harriet Thiselton-Dyer's Bucklandia plate [in CURTIS' BOTANICAL MAGAZINE], JDH has heard Reeve underpays his colourists.

JDH informs Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] that he is going to visit his children in Malvern before Asa & Jane Gray arrive for their visit. JDH updates WTTD on the current business of the gardens before he leaves. He reports that there have been a lot of Ward's cases to deal with, [John] Smith will reform the King of Hanover's grounds, Burt is improving, the Macrozamia is recovering, the Welwitschias are dying under [William] Watson's care, the Narras are also dead so the Doom palm [Hyphaene thebaica] & Balfour's things are to be cared for differently. Smith will leave soon, [George] Nicholson has returned. JDH has kept an eye on the museum & advised Jurd[?] about the pipes, they are now plastering. The fern house have been repaired. JDH has cleared a large paper cabinet some of which he will use for palms. [Charles] Flahault & Balfour are at RBG Kew, as is [Alfred] Coginaux studying Melastomads. JDH asks WTTD to start populating the palm house. He has cleared the tomato plants from the herbarium ground's walls where necessary. He askes WTTD to select some economic[?] plants for the walls of the new range house. Thanks WTTD for letter about his travels, wishes he has urged WTTD to cross the Monte Moro. The De Candolles will call later in the month to see the Grays. JDH thinks that Smith is right about the author of the RICHMOND TIMES articles being [James] Britten.