Copy letter from John Lindley [assistant secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Hort. Soc. garden, to Mr T. Hartweg [Theodor Hartweg], care of Messrs Byrns & Co [merchants], Mexico

Title

Copy letter from John Lindley [assistant secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Hort. Soc. garden, to Mr T. Hartweg [Theodor Hartweg], care of Messrs Byrns & Co [merchants], Mexico

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/1/44

Date

15 Jul 1839

Scope & content

All the boxes expected from Hartweg have arrived; the boxes were mostly in good condition, although the oaks and garryas were dead, and Hartweg should try packing them in sand in the middle of the orchid boxes; the Cactaceae are in 'the worst order', and the roots of the two specimens of senilis [?Opuntia senilis or Mammillaria senilis] were rotten; he has not looked at the [dried] specimens, 'as I find they are not put up in collections, and I can only say that they appear in excellent trim, very fine things and admirably dried'; few of the plants from Tampico [Mexico] have succeeded, all the Bejaria and other Ericaceae have failed, and only two or three Cactaceae are salvageable; 'the mud balls do not answer, everything in them as yet is dead', and Hartweg should use sand instead; the Orchidaceae are in a good state; they are having some trouble with the boxes, as Messrs Munoz & Co [Messrs R. Munoz & Co, merchants in Mexico] had consigned them to Byrns & Co [Messrs Byrns, Hooton & Co, merchants in Mexico] in Liverpool, instead of to the Horticultural Society, care of Byrns & Co; Mr Loddiges [George Loddiges, botanist and naturalist, owner of a nursery in Hackney, London] received the hummingbirds, and would like to receive more; the 'remainder of the things' will be saved for Hartweg's return. All the boxes expected from Hartweg have arrived; the boxes were mostly in good condition, although the oaks and garryas were dead, and Hartweg should try packing them in sand in the middle of the orchid boxes; the Cactaceae are in 'the worst order', and the roots of the two specimens of senilis [?Opuntia senilis or Mammillaria senilis] were rotten; he has not looked at the [dried] specimens, 'as I find they are not put up in collections, and I can only say that they appear in excellent trim, very fine things and admirably dried'; few of the plants from Tampico [Mexico] have succeeded, all the Bejaria and other Ericaceae have failed, and only two or three Cactaceae are salvageable; 'the mud balls do not answer, everything in them as yet is dead', and Hartweg should use sand instead; the Orchidaceae are in a good state; they are having some trouble with the boxes, as Messrs Munoz & Co [Messrs R. Munoz & Co, merchants in Mexico] had consigned them to Byrns & Co [Messrs Byrns, Hooton & Co, merchants in Mexico] in Liverpool, instead of to the Horticultural Society, care of Byrns & Co; Mr Loddiges [George Loddiges, botanist and naturalist, owner of a nursery in Hackney, London] received the hummingbirds, and would like to receive more; the 'remainder of the things' will be saved for Hartweg's return

Level

Item

Extent

3 page letter (1 sheet)

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)