TALBOT3561

Lacock Abbey, near Chippenham
August 27^th 1837

My Dear Sir

I received some time ago the present of flower roots which you were so kind as to send me ¹ – They were immediately distributed to the gardens of my friends, among others the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Burlington ² expressed themselves much gratified with the selection which I made for them. They came in excellent health having suffered nothing by crossing the Line, except several of them were putting out their shoots altho’ deprived of light & moisture for several months.

The spreading leaves of the Hæmanthus, and the tall spikes of the Ornithogalum remind me that I have not yet thanked you for this interesting present, which I assure you was most acceptable. The seeds were remarkably good and came up in a few days for the most part. One of them has flowered: you marked it as “a little purple 5-petalous flower”. I sent it to D^r Lindley ³ to enquire if it was not a new species of Lobelia, he said it was a Monopsis, but he did not know it. I have raised some curious plants this year, natives of the Euphrates by shaking out the seeds from the dried specimens of plants sent home by the Expedition. ⁴ I should be much obliged to you to send me seeds of any common plants you may meet with in your walks; the commoner the plant is at the Cape the less likely it is to be in our gardens I think. To save trouble several kinds may be mixed together in one paper, when they come up they will easily be separable.

I should have been very glad to have shown some civility to D^r A. Smith ⁵ for his kindness in taking charge of the box of plants, but unfortunately he left his card at my house, without putting his residence upon it and altho’ I made enquiry I could not during the short time I remained in London, find any one who knew where he lived. Along with this letter I send you a small packet of seeds just received from Mexico, names for the most part unknown. They are all from the hot country in the neighbourhood of the coast, & will I doubt not flourish at the Cape if you like to plant them in your garden. Is there a government Botanic Garden at the Cape? There certainly ought to be one, & it would be of great use, by corresponding with our Horticultural Society. We raise here in England an infinite number of plants which our Climate does not allow us to preserve; & when lost they frequently cannot be obtained again. For instance Douglas ⁶ sent home from California a very pretty new genus Clintonia, but being an annual & ripening no seed, it is already lost – Had a small packet of the seed been raised at the Cape it might have been multiplied by seed ad libitum.

I will write again shortly respecting the scientific matters to which you advert in your letter;

in the mean while believe me to remain Yours most sincerely
H.F. Talbot

Halley’s Comet was poorly seen in Europe owing to continued cloudy weather – There were only two [missing text] ⁷ (Oct^r 10. 11) when it presented a grand appearance [missing text] not equal to that of 1811 by any means However its very close approach on that night to one of the principal stars of Ursa Major was a highly interesting sight, [missing text] its motion was visible to the naked eye every quar[ter] of an hour, or half hour, till it had past the sta[missing text] I think the brightest comet I recollect to have seen, [missing text] of 1811 was in July 1819 which was visible close to [missing text] immediately after sunset. Did you see anything par[ticular?] at the time of the occulation of Mars this year Feb. 18^th. Here it was accompanied by a most extraordinary Aurora Borealis of a blood red colour which the newspapers unanimously attributed to the atmosphere of the planet! which they said had refracted the moons rays! or vice versâ, I forget which.

To
Sir John Herschel