Old Orchard,
Broadstone,
Wimborne.
June 26th 1911
My dear Mr Cockerell1
After the hard labour of my book2, & the flood of correspondence about it, chiefly from admirers, — I am taking relaxation in a new rock & bog garden which I have been making, & especially in growing as many as I can of the lovely genus Primula, especially the fine new species recently discovered in the mountains of China & the Himalayas. These I am growing [2] as much as possible from seed, as their beauty is only shown in groups or masses; & I have already got altogether about 40 species (chiefly presently from Kew, Edinburgh, Dublin etc..)[.] I am very anxious to get your very remarkable & fine Primula Rusbyi from New Mexico, and in the hope that your University may have a botanical garden or that some of your botanists may grow it, I shall greatly prize some seed gathered and posted in a letter as soon as the capsules are mature.
Seed of the Californian P[rimula]. suffruticosa[?] and the Coloradan P[rimula]. Parryi will [3] also be very welcome, as well as of any other American species, of such there are.
I am much obliged to you for writing the appreciative review you gave of it in The Dial3. The American publisher also gave an excellent short review on the wrapper of the American Edition. I have seen a statement that it has been very widely reviewed and talked about in America. I hope the publisher will send me a selection of the best later, as he has promised to do. [4] I was glad to see your success in getting such fine new Hymenoptera4 at Florrisant5, by the paper & illustrations you sent me. I have been, & still am, suffering from "Exzema" especially on one leg hips, breast, etc., which has worried me so much that I cannot get settle to any literary work, but I hope by changes of diet to get rid of it. Your photos of yourself and [your] wife as "protected", à là Thayer6, is amusing. How mad he is on that subject, & what a lot his big book must have cost him. With kind remembrances to your wife & best wishes.
Yours faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4241.4310)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 876]
After the hard labor of my book, and the flood of correspondence about it, chiefly from admirers,—I am taking relaxation in a new rock and bog garden, which I have been making, and especially in growing as many as I can of the lovely genus Primula, especially the fine new species recently discovered in the mountains of China and the Himalayas. These I am growing as much as possible from seed, as their beauty is only shown in groups of masses; and I have already got altogether about 40 species (chiefly presents from Kew, Edinburgh, Dublin, etc.). I am very anxious to get your very remarkable and fine Primula Rusbyi from New Mexico, and in the hope that your university may have a botanical garden, or that some of your botanists may grow it; I shall greatly prize some seed gathered and posted in a letter as soon as the capsules are mature. Seed of the Californian P. suffruticosa and the Coloradan P. Parryi will also be very welcome, as well as of any other American species, if such there are.
P. rusbyi I had never obtained at any time; the allusion to my species was probably due to some recollection of the equally fine R. ellisiae, which it was impossible to procure. We did, however, obtain some roots of P. parryi, and Dr. Wallace wrote:
I have received a very nice little parcel of fine roots of the handsome Primula Parryi, which I saw growing luxuriantly near Kelso's cabin, below Gray's Peak, at 11,500 feet, and which I hope to see in flower again next spring, as I have given it a place where it can get its roots in water, as it did there, on the margin of the stream.5
In the same letter he says:
About two months back was much surprised and pleased to have a visit from Miss Eastwood, my companion in our trip to Gray's Peak and Grizzly Gulch, in July, 1887, where we saw the American Alpine flora at the snow-line in perfection.
Then again:
Answering letters, reading the papers, mags. and books, with a lot of novels fills up my time, [2] [p. 877] with attention to my Alpines and seedling Primulas, though I have promised to write an important article, when I feel up to it, "On the Influence of the Environment on Morals." We are having the dullest, dampest and dreariest winter I remember, after the hottest summer!... The political and foreign situation is now most interesting with us, and I am glad to have lived to see such a hopeful dawn.
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP4241.6907)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP4241,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 13 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4241