WCP2941

[1]¹

Inverquharity

Richmond

30/5/[19]09²

My dear Dr Wallace

I was much pleased to get your letter. Many thanks for the book which I shall be interested to read. I have just lent y[ou]^r. "Modern Miracles"³ to a man who is wanting light on these matters. There is an Ethical & Religious[?] Society that meets periodically at the Bishops'[?] to read papers & discuss & I somehow got entangled in it & read them a paper on "Altruism", its origins &c. It was very Darwinian⁴ indeed for a circle of parsons. I send you a copy herewith. I should like to go on working this subject[?] out further, but writing is getting a trouble to me now, instead of a delight.

As to the seeds, I am glad some grew at any rate. Some hand shelled Tas[manian]. Seeds will not grow unless they are dropped[?] into boiling water & left to cool — or else scorched in fire to crack their shell. Possibly Waratah⁵ is one. I have now ceased trying to get up seeds of bulbs — [1 word illeg. struck through] Several people promised to help me, & some [1 word illeg. struck through] do still. The Director of Education sent a circular to all the school teachers to enlist their help for me, but nothing came of that. However, I sent you 2 lots of seeds. But quite lately I found that a Seedsman on the West Coast is making a business of Collecting Vetiver[?]⁶ seeds and I at once ordered from him some — stating the kind of seeds you are likely to want — healthy orchids & lowly plants not big trees — sort of things you might in y[ou]^r. life time see come to something:- if I send them straight to you with names & what information you can give. [2]⁷ I believe he is sending them by this mail. And he is to try to get me some orchids; but only 7 sp[ecies]. Orchids are very common looking & poor. I told him not to mind Waratah as we had it already & I meant to add Blandfordia⁸ but could not remember the name [.] I specially wanted him to get Bauera⁹ (the treacherous creeper that is so dangerous to the [1 word illeg.] in) & "Horizontal"¹⁰, I don't know whether he has got either.

"Horizontal" is a heavy wood that grows I believe in loose [1 word illeg. struck through] wet soil — so its weight binds it over each tree crushing another (if grown in scrub) & then[?] the next, & then each prostrate[?] one sends up fresh shoots till they too f bend over and bend this neighbour till the whole scrub becomes a sort of cubic basket-work almost impossible to get through with a swag[?] to carry — I have [1 word illeg.] along a track cut through such a [1 word illeg.], in which the stuff felled had to be cut up into short lengths & "pigeon holed" in the scrub to get it out of the way. These two — (Bauera & Horizontal) are the Bushman's deadly foes & he always sets fire to a scrub of them when he gets the chance. There are many Tas[manian]. Plants I would specially like to get for you but I can't. There is the Native bread¹¹, which grows underground to a [1 word illeg. struck through] tuber as big as a man's head & looks when cut, like Tapioca¹², but showing no top above ground. ^{a finger they say.} I believe the natives used to eat it, but we can't. Then there is the Native yam¹³. I have dug up a whole bucketful as big as kidney potatoes, but not fit to eat, though no doubt they could become so if cultured. But they [1 word illeg.] show a small top for a short time & [1 word illeg.] botanist would know [3]¹⁴ what it was; & no one can get it to grow.

As to Spiritualism I would much like to investigate it, but in this out of the way corner, can't get the chance.

Books don't help me.

In such occult matters I want to witness the facts & cross examine them for myself. But though naturally rather materialistic I'm afraid, I don't see anything so very improbable in the facts stated; because I am an Evolutionist [1 word illeg.] backbone, & I take it as a [1 word illeg.] of [1 word illeg.] of 3 forms:- As much superior as we are to the Monad¹⁵ (or Whatever it was) we sprang from, so much superior to us will probably be the being of the future into which we are developing — (if the solar system lasts long enough) — & this means fresh & wonderful powers; thought reading & the Georgia Magnet¹⁶ are 2 samples which I have witnessed & tested. Telepathy I have not had the chance to test but it [1 word illeg.] only a mode of wireless telegraphy, so probable enough. — "Amazon"¹⁷ in the acrostic was right — the 1000 q[uestio]ⁿ. only represented indefiniteness [sic?]. I should [1 word illeg. struck through] never have guessed Lewis Carroll¹⁸. I thought of magnets imagination almost at once but rejected it as impossible because I understood that it was a word of 3 syllables or 3 equal parts —

[New paragraph] I have fought for Land Nat[ionalisation].¹⁹ here for years but seem to make no impression. A strong movement is being made for tax on the "Unenforced Value" but it is fiercely opposed; & we have compulsory purchase but they don't understand. The cry is to break up the big estates, when [it] is right to be a force with us [3 words illeg.]

— ½ an acre in the city class have [2 words illeg.] than 10,000 acres that I keep in the wild bush, which are but left so[?]

So they buy here & there the wrong kind of estates & give far too much for them. I hope I may hear from you now & again if you can spare the time.

Yours always. | A. J. Ogilvy²⁰ [signature]