JDH informs Asa Gray what it cost to send a copy of GENERA [PLANTARUM] to Bessey [Herbarium], Nebraska. He would welcome more orders to cover the costs of reprinting. Affairs of [George] Bentham [GB] are not yet settled, 'Miss W.' should deal with her Uncle's 'intentions' incl. debts to Societies. JDH will miss GB & his help with ICONES [PLANTARUM]. He mentions a caster belonging to Sir Samuel [Bentham]. JDH cannot travel with Gray but he may be able to visit him in Boston after retiring. JDH is always too busy to get away, [William Thiselton] Dyer does a great deal but cannot take over all Hooker's work & has fallen behind with the 1883 report. Synonyms make nomenclature for the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE increasingly hard. Mentions the ongoing 'McGilvray affair' & the deterioration of his sister Maria McGilvray. [Henry Ashburton] Newman & Margaret [Greene Newman nee McGilvray] have gone to California to start an agricultural school, Bessy & Tom [F. McGilvray] may go too, Tom is currently in Canada. JDH's sister Bessy [Elizabeth Evans Lombe nee Hooker] is still ill & her husband [Thomas Robert Evans] Lombe worries for her. Willy [William Henslow Hooker] has failed to pass for surgeon. Symonds is at 'The Camp' [in Sunningdale]. JDH's wife [Hyacinth Hooker] named their new baby Richard, JDH thinks the child has inherited his long head & compares him to a Chinook [Chenook] Indian. Joey [Joseph Symonds Hooker] follows the baby around like a puppy. Mentions [Everard Ferdinand] Im Thurn ascending Roraima, [Sir Henry Hamilton] Johnston's Kilimanjaro collections, & a portrait of Gray. Discusses his work on Indian Polygona, referring to Meissner's work, Amblygonon & Persicaria. GB has left JDH the copyright of his BRITISH FLORA, JDH has concerns about producing a new edition. Gray may meet Morris at New Orleans. Reports that his uncle Dawson Turner, a charitable eccentric, has died of Erysipilas. His Aunt Ellen of Chester is the only one left from that branch of the family.