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From:
George Bentham
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
10 July 1877
Source of text:
DAR 160: 168
Summary:

Thanks CD for Forms of flowers. Comments on the chapter on cleistogamic flowers; offers some corrections.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
10 July 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.38-40, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:

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.

Contributor:
Hooker Project