Parkstone, Dorset.
Novr. 24th. 1892
Dear Mr. Deane1
I was very glad to receive your letter & to hear that you are yourself interested in orchids.
I have heard of Mr. Fitzgerald’s2 book3 on Australian Orchids but have not read it, & it is far too expensive to buy. It is a pity a cheap edition illustrated with outline cut only could not be published. I am glad to hear that Mr. Fitzgerald’s son will collect & send some & enclose a note4 on the subject for his consideration which please give him. I am glad to hear you are getting on well in the [2] world. I often think with pleasure of the agreeable & instructive evenings I used to pass with your father & mother & sister at Clapham, Please give my kind remembrances to your sister. My daughter5 — now 23 — has been training as a kindergarten teacher & is very fond of the work. But she is now at home till she gets some employment.
My son6 has just got taken as a beginner, at Siemen’s [3] Electrical Engineering Works at Woolwich, where he enters the 1st of next month.
I have just finished the proofs of a new edition of my book7 on Australia for Stanford — almost rewritten — in which I have given a pretty full account of the Natural History of Australia as well as all other matters of interest — but it is most difficult to get good descriptive matter as scenery &c.
Should you visit England I hope you will be able [4] to come here for a day or two, as you would be interested in my garden where I collect all the curiosities I can get hold of — though there is not room for a large collection.
Thanking you for the trouble you have taken about the orchids, & with best wishes
Believe me | yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3537.3430)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Notes on collection & packing Australian Orchids
1. Only those species having handsome or curious flowers are required.
2. After many experiments in having roots & tubers sent me from the Rocky Mountains & California, I think the most likely plan of keeping orchid tubers in good condition, wd be, to dip them in clay or perhaps starch of a creamy thickness, then pack closely in dry moss. This would probably preserve the natural moisture of the tuber without inducing mould or decay. Even evergreen species, if there are any such with you would would [sic] probably come safely if the tubers or roots only, were treated in this way. Of course the most important thing is that the tuber shd be fully natured before sending, indicated by the flowers, or both flowers & foliage, beginning to wither away.
3. A note shd be sent with the tubers stating the names & number of each, and any particulars as to soil too useful for cultivation.
A. R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Enclosure (WCP3537.3431)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP3537,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on