Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society of London [George Bentham]

Title

Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society of London [George Bentham]

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/1/78

Date

26 Apr 1842

Scope & content

Written from Quito [Ecuador]

Letter No 61

He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated 13 Aug [this letter is not present in the collection], which he received on 9 Apr, telling him about the safe arrival of his Guatemala collection, and a copy of the 'Plantae Hartwegianae [George Bentham, 'Plantas Hartwegianas imprimis mexicanas adjectis nonnullis Grahamianis enumerat novasque describit Georgius Bentham', 1839–1857]'; he is pleased to see that there were more novelties than he expected, 'from the ground having been run over before me in every direction'; some of his favourite pines are not mentioned, including Abies religiosa, Pinus occidentalis, Pinus oocarpa, Pinus teocote and Pinus filifolia [Pinus devoniana]: 'perhaps they can be put in with those of Centro-America'; he will inform Messrs Polhemus & Mickle [Charles Polhemus and Edward Mickle, American shipping agents in Ecuador] of the Society's 'arrangement', but thinks the safest way of sending his collections will be through their agents at Panama and Jamaica: 'consuls do not like to be troubled with such commissions where there are only outlays and no profit'; he wrote to Mr Pflucker [Charles Pflucker, German merchant in Peru] in Lima [Peru] about the missing parcel, and thinks the box intended for the Emmy was 'plundered, but fortunately the plants were in my conception of no great value', but he will not send anything else across the continent; the weather has been bad, and he has had to restrict his 'rambles' around the Pichincha [Ecuador] to the mornings to avoid the torrential rains; he made an excursion to Antisana [Ecuador], where it did not rain, and he stayed for three nights at a farm house on the 'highest inhabited part on the globe (13,434 ft)'; he found a 'rich collection' of alpine plants, but hardly any seeds, apart from a Ribes growing in rock crevices with a 'pleasant, reddish fruit'

Hartweg's accounts for 13 Mar-13 Apr 1842 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $5, 'keeping of three mules' $7.6 and 'freight of luggage' $7.3

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)