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.

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].