From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
19 April 1880
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.48, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
Showing 21–40 of 318 items
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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.
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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.
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].
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JDH has received a letter from Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] about his recent holiday with his wife, Hooker's daughter, Harriet. He writes that there is no need for WTTD to rush back to RBG Kew but updates him on the recent garden activities including changes to staff. Walters is stationed in the Palm House & is nervous about rearranging independently, Leighton has been 'packed off', [William] Watson has taken over the orchids, JDH does not know what to do about Burt who attends well to the grounds but not to [museum] number 2, Truelove works hard in the woods but needs time consuming supervision. [John] Smith has recovered from an attack of sciatica. The work on the museums is progressing, but the staircase in [museum] number 1 is a failure. JDH has received correspondence about appointment of a clerk for [Henry] Prestoe [in Trinidad] & recommended that Governor Irving's advice be followed & a Colony man appointed on a modest salary. JDH has brought Smith round to Beischeles[?] coming & [George] Nicholson taking on more garden duties. JDH sends his love to his old friends Brian & Susan Hodgson.
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.
WTT-D’s suggestion about absorbent function of pegs in Abronia suggests origin of pegs in Welwitschia, which deeply interests CD. Previously could not see how pegs became large enough to be of mechanical use. Now thinks tissue between hypocotyl and radicle absorbs fluid, which would favour rise of peg to expose larger surface.
Rejects German contempt for investigating use of organs.
Asks WTT-D to observe how worms draw Robinia leaves into burrows.
Asks GB to sign certificate for Francis Darwin [candidate for Royal Society].
Letter of introduction for V. O. Kovalevsky.
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JDH sends birthday wishes to Brian Houghton Hodgson, who is his only remaining 'Indian Chum' now that Colvile is dead. JDH reports on the illnesses of [Sir Wiliam Turner] Thiselton-Dyer. JDH & his wife Hyacinth plan to go away with the Grays at the end of Feb. Gives his opinion of his father in law, [Reverend William Samuel] Symonds' novel: MALVERN CHASE, & also of [John Keat's] Endymion.
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