TALBOT285

Melbury ¹
7 April

Dear Henry

I was near writing to you at Lacock thinking you might be there for no better reason than that I did not know precisely where you were – if you come there – come on here as we avoid London this spring – & you might see Melbury & Abbotsbury ² in some beauty

I wonder if Lady Liston ³ brought to Milburn ⁴ any of the plants I remember in her garden at Pera? ⁵ I brought one or two which remain still at Abbotsbury. Oxalis compressa was a weed in the grass – & the gardener a Greek had the odd task to plant edgings of Iris f œtida every way unsuitable.

I believe you are intimate with the Botanic garden at Edinburgh – if so can you tell me if they part with their plants for money or exchange? I ask because tho’ I have not much to exchange with such a Garden, I think they have a good collection of palms, & if they had duplicates ⁶ not too large, I should like to propose for one or two, such as Jub œa spectabilis – or the Carolina Chamærops serrulata which M^r M^cNab ⁷ must know having botanized in the U. States.

I could offer some bulbs not common & some other plants of which I would send a list –

We have an oldfashioned spring which I hope leads to an oldfashioned summer. a very fine crimson rhodod 10 feet high is in flower near the turret & Triteleia & Milla uniflora – much alike. at Abb^y – Tritoma Rooperi was the beauty of the season. I have got Flora Azorica ⁸ – a meagre pamphlet – but of some interest by the brothers Hochstetter – so one species nova ⁹ is sonorously entitled Cerastium or I forget the genus Hochstetterorum!

Y^r aff^te
W^m

I hope Ela ¹⁰ & all are quite well

[envelope, flap imprinted "Melbury Dorchester":]
Henry Fox Talbot Esq
Millburn Tower
Edinburgh