WCP3971

[1]

Old Orchard,

Broadstone,

Dorset.

Feb^y. 26th. 1913

My dear Miss Eastwood¹

Many thanks for your kind letter,² and the enclosed seeds of Epilobium rigidum var. which I sowed imme[di]ately, & hope to see flower this year. When you are in New Mexico you may meet with the rare Primula Rusbyi and if you get on to the Sierra Nevada with P. suffrutescens[.] Either seeds or roots will be acceptable — I had some good large fleshy roots of P. Parryi from Mr. Cockerell³ which came very well, packed close in slightly moist moss, & I hope will flower this [2] year. The only plants I can think of that you might with are — Mertensia alpina Polemonium confertum and a Pentstemon ^which will grew in the rock-crevices on the summit of the Pass near the Hotel & over the Tunnel of the Rail. very dwarf — sky-blue flower with the buds yellowish, I think[.]

But any dwarf or pretty herbaceous plants will be acceptable, and any bulbs or roots, that are likely to come well by post — will be still more so.

I have had a rush of letters of congratulation this year on my 90.th birthday [3] and I am now just printing a small new book on The Social Environment and Moral Progress⁴ — it is very heretical of course. I will send you one when it is out.

Though I am fairly well I am very weak, & can do very little work — I have eczema bad in my legs, & ought to lie on a couch to keep them up the greater part of the day, but I cannot write so, & have continually to refer to my books &c. However, I still enjoy seeing seeds come up & flowers grow, though [4] I can now rarely get down to my new Rock & Bog garden.

I envy you with your mountain climbing & botanising. My son⁵ is better but I regret to say not yet well. My wife⁶ I am sorry to say has some kind of weakness in her legs which prevents her from walking even in the garden. Otherwise she is quite well.

Yours very truly | Alfred R.Wallace [signature]

P.S. I find to my sorrow that the Primula Parryi roots are all rotted, being in too wet a place in winter! So if you can get me seeds or roots they will be very acceptable.

A. R. W.