[1]1
Old Orchard,
Broadstone,
Wimborne.
July 14th. 1908
Lt. Col. Prain
Dear Sir
I have <been> trying the last 3 years to grow the species of Telopea from seed, but find them very difficult to manage in the young state, during the winter. I have still 3 seedlings of T.oreades but they grow very slowly, — all the T.speciosissima I had, have died from damp, or from droughts after planting out. (We have <had> 3 very dry months here till the recent rains). [2] I have now just received a large packet of seed of the Tasmanian truncata & if you have not got it growing I should be glad to send you some. Also some good fresh seed of Blandfordia grandiflora — but this no doubt you have plenty of.
Should you have any young plants of Telopeas (especially of T.speciosissima) that you could spare, of a size suitable for planting [3] out of doors I should be much obliged for one, as, once established, I think they would succeed here as do a good many Australian plants — Grevillia rosmarinifloria and Sollya heterophylla have stood last winter perfectly though several hardy Accacias were killed.
Yours very truly | Alfred R Wallace [signature]
P.S. I am now correcting proofs of vol. II. of Spruce's "Notes of a botanist" which I hope will be out in the Autumn. A. R. W.
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3851.3770)]
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Please cite as “WCP3851,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3851