WCP3811

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon.

July 20th. 1878

Dear Sir Joseph¹

Many thanks for sending me your extremely interesting lecture on the "North American Flora"²— How I wish you or Prof. Asa Gray³ could find time to write a small volume on it, illustrated by maps & figures. Your description of the process of destruction of the "Big-trees"⁴ makes one quite melancholy. What barbarians our successors will consider us if they are not preserved. Surely if proper representations were made to them, the Californial Government [2] or that of the U.S. would secure a tract of the country theyse ^trees now flourish in as a "Public Park". Your last par. "fire and the saw" is inimitable.

At p. 2 on the spread of the mango you refer to the fruits rolling down hill; & the negroes throwing the stones about as accounting for its spread, but are not animals a more efficient cause? The mango is greedily eaten by all quadrupeds— pigs, horses, cows &c.— and the stone being excessively tough & hard would often be swallowed & passed through the intestines.

There is a paper of yours I have been unable to find,— that on the plants of Kini-Balou & their geographical [3] relations. Can you kindly refer to it,— or favour me with a separate copy if you should have one.

Believe me | yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Sir Joseph Hooker K.C.B.