Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent St, London

Title

Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent St, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/8/2/14

Date

16 Dec 1844

Scope & content

Written from Hong Kong

Annotated on the reverse: 'Via Southampton'

Letter No 14

He sent duplicates of two letters, 12 cases of plants and one basket of seeds by the Duke of Bedford and the Dumfries; the seeds include numbers 33-35 and form the 'principle part' of his collection from the north of China the previous summer; the moutans [Paeonia suffruticosa], which he selected 'nearly upon chance' will almost certainly turn out well, and he is anxious to introduce the different shades of purple, black, red and white which he found in the moutan gardens in the spring and sent plants on the Bombay and the Helen Stewart; he has, however, not seen a yellow variety; particular care should be taken of those plants marked in case 24, which he found in the 'garden of the Celestial Country' at Souchou-foo [Classical Gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu, China]; the multi-coloured rose, in cases 31 and 32, is a 'curious and beautiful' variety, which sometimes produces red and white flowers, and sometimes striped flowers, as illustrated in the enclosed drawing [enclosure not present]; the plant is unknown in southern China, but is called the '5-coloured rose' in the north; he intended to send plants of the yellow rose he found in the garden of a Mandarin at Ningpo [Ningbo, Zhejiang, China], and which he sent a drawing of earlier; he took cuttings of the plant and managed to replant them: 'in China, however, nothing is safe, and [...] some light-fingered Chinaman saved me the trouble by taking them himself'; the plant sent by the Cornwall in case 6 (No 31) and some in the last cases may be the same variety; there are two species of pine in case 32, one from Ningpo and the other from Japan, 'brought to Chapoo [Zhapu, Zhejiang, China] by junks which trade with that country'; he did his best to procure plants from Japan while in Chapoo, and received the pine, Lilium speciosum and other 'well-known' plants; among the northern plants is a 'fine, creeping shrub with sweet-scented white flowers', a Hydrangea from the woods of Tein-tung [Ningbo], a variety of large-flowered Rubus rosaefolius [identification unresolved as at Jun 2019], a Prunus from Chusan [Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China], a 'most lovely' Chrysanthemum and a potential new species of Gardenia; 'a very bad Chinese drawing is sent with this letter to give you some idea of the beauty of the plant [enclosure not present]'; camellias include 'beautiful' Camellia hexangularis and a 'very fine' white variety; the best thing is the 'celebrated Shanghai peach', of which he sent several plants in different cases; all the duplicates are included in the list sent with letter No 12; 'I cannot help feeling proud of this collection – it contains plants of very great value for ornamental purposes', and most of them should be sufficiently hardy for England; he hopes that all the 'exertion and toil' during the eight months in northern China have been worth it; he encloses ten packets of mainly duplicate seeds [enclosures not present], including Buddlea lindleyana [Buddleja lindleyana], which can be used for distribution; he acknowledges receipt of a box of optical instruments sent via Captain Scanlan [captain of the Emu], which will be 'very useful as presents for the Chinese'

Fortune's expenses for 3 Nov-10 Dec 1844 include 'shipping plants at Chusan, coolie [indentured worker] hire &c' $3, 'passage money from Chusan to Hong Kong' $100, 'bill for 5 glazed cases (not including glass), $7 each' $35, 'expenses of screwing down and cutting out the address on 6 cases of plants' $2.50 and 'sundry other small items' $2.50 [here the list includes 10 more items], with receipt of bill for £150 from Messrs Dent & Co [merchants in China]

Extent

5 page letter (3 sheets)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)