JDH has just returned from Loch Lomond & found 3 letters & enclosures from Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD]. In turn he is sending WTTD 2 India Office drafts & [James] Backhouse's letter complimenting RBG Kew. JDH feels that there is much more to be done at RBG Kew especially regarding the arboretum. JDH assumes that [Sir Richard] Strachey has returned to London from Aviemore. JDH mentions something that he & WTTD wrote about a Mr Talbot. JDH assumes that the Calcutta Botanic Garden is in a bad way given the conditions it exists in under Mudel[?], who JDH calls a 'jackanapes'. JDH has told [John Firminger] Duthie that he must listen to [George Henry Kendrick] Thwaites' opinion on the destination of the rubber plants Duthie takes out & that it will depend on the condition they arrive in. Some or all may be sent straight on to Assam via Calcutta [Kolkata]. JDH will back 'the Dipterocarp application'. He is anxious that WTTD come forward for the Royal Society despite the obstacle of Bentley. [George] Bentham has gone to the [British] Association [for the Advancement of Science] meeting. JDH reports that the weather in Scotland has been 'tolerable' for his & Lady Hyacinth Hooker's tour of the Clyde, Inverary & Loch Lomond & some of his 'old haunts'. JDH met the Miss Coles on the Loch Lomond Steamer. His wife Hyacinth is an excellent traveller, he describes her as 'a mountaineer'.
Transcript
8 Windsor Terrace W[est]
Glasgow
Sept[ember] 6/[18]76
My dear Dyer*1
We have just arrived from Loch Lomond, & found your 3 letters & enclosures -- very many thanks for all the trouble you have taken.
I return the two India Office drafts signed herewith, also Backhouse's*2 letter which I am particularly glad to have seen, as he is a punctilious & conscientious man & not given to overpraising!
I must confess however that all that is done is not half
8 Windsor Terrace W[est]
Glasgow
Sept[ember] 6/[18]76
My dear Dyer*1
We have just arrived from Loch Lomond, & found your 3 letters & enclosures -- very many thanks for all the trouble you have taken.
I return the two India Office drafts signed herewith, also Backhouse's*2 letter which I am particularly glad to have seen, as he is a punctilious & conscientious man & not given to overpraising!
I must confess however that all that is done is not half
that should be done, in the Arboretum especially. Strachey*3 is I suppose back in London now, he was to be at Aviemore last week.
I hope that what we wrote about Mr. Talbot*4 is the right thing. I puzzled good deal over it, & thought much over it since, but to no further avail. I am most anxious to stand well with the I[ndia] O[ffice].
Thanks for what you have done about Eaton. I had quite forgotten Lyallia which should of course be figured & the [1 word crossed out illeg.] Uncinia
I dare say that the Calcutta [Kolkata]
Garden*5 is very bad indeed. I do not see how it can be otherwise under considering the depressing conditions it exists under: but Mudel[?] is a disagreeable conceited Jackanapes*6 & wants a setting down himself.
I wrote to Duthie*7 that he must take Thwaites'*8 opinion as to the destination of the rubbers which he takes out, & that opinion must depend on the state of the plants on their arrival, and on those of the 40 cases sent to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] -- if the 40 cases have arrived in fair order, then some or all of th Duthie's if in good order or if the 40 contents of the
40 cases Duthie's are in bad order, should go on to Calcutta to be sent at once to Assam.
I am delighted to hear of the Dipterocarp application & shall strongly back it: & all the more as I am so anxious about your coming forward for [the] R[oyal] S[ociety] though with Bentley stopping the way it could not be as unanimous a matter as I should wish.
I have heard nothing of the Association*9 as yet -- [George] Bentham is gone to the general meeting.
We have had tolerable weather for our trip to the Clyde, Inverary, & Loch Lomond, -- fine on the whole, with tremendous squales
of wind & rain i.e. with several duckings! I have been much interested in visiting my old haunts some of which are unchanged & others unrecognisable. We have not met a single fr tourist friend till today when 2 Miss Coles one of whom I had met at Miss Sullivan's turned up on board the Loch Lomond Steamer -- Mrs. Hooker is an excellent traveler, climbs & walks like a mountaineer, & is indifferent to bad weather.
Please say everything from me to Mr. [John] Smith
& believe me ever sincerely yours | J D Hooker [signature]
1. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). British botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (1885--1905). He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He also married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
2. James Backhouse (1825--1890). English botanist, archaeologist, and geologist.
3. Lieutenant--General Sir Richard Strachey (1817--1908). British soldier & Indian administrator chiefly employed with public works. Studied the geography, botany and geology of the Himalayas. Was instrumental in the formation of the Indian meteorological department. Served as President of the Royal Geographical Society from 1888--1890. Accompanied Joseph Hooker and Asa Gray on their botanical excursions in western USA in 1877.
4. William Henry Fox Talbot (1800--1877), British inventor and photography pioneer, and amateur botanist.
5. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden (previously known as Indian Botanic Garden), situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. Commonly known as the Calcutta Botanical Garden, and previously as the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta.
6. Impudent or mischievous person.
7. John Firminger Duthie (1845--1922). English botanist and explorer. Superintendent of the Saharanpur Botanic Garden from 1875--903.
8. George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (1811--1882) Botanist. Superintendent of Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon [Sri Lanka].
9. Probably refers to a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, now known as The British Science Association or 'BA'.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.
Powered by Aetopia