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/7/1/1/79

Date

25 May 1842

Scope & content

Written from Quito [Ecuador]

Letter No 62

He acknowledges receipt of letters dated 15 Jan and 26 Feb [these letters are not present in the collection] with a map of Colombia; he was happy to hear that the potted Guatemala plants arrived in good order and have flowered; 'four numbers of the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' have also reached me and were a great treat to me'; he has made excursions to the nearby snow-covered mountains and has succeeded in making a 'fine collection' despite the rains; he will now visit the warmer regions, at elevations 6,000-9,500 feet, where he hopes to find many new Orchidaceae and seeds; one of his three species of bulbs is the same as that sent in the Loxa [Loja, Ecuador] collection from El Sisne [El Cisne, Ecuador]; they should be careful with the bulbs collected in Yunguilla [Ecuador], as they are probably a new genus; he sent Phycella chloracra [Phaedranassa dubia] of Herbert [William Herbert, British botanist] from Loxa ('at least I sent one with a scarlet corolla tipped with green'); he will leave for Popayan [Popayan, Colombia], 108 leagues [324 miles] away, in about a month when the roads are dry; arrangements should be made for sending collections from Popayan and Bogota through Messrs Polhemus and Mickle [Charles Polhemus and Edward Mickle, American shipping agents in Ecuador]; he can cash his bills through them here: 'from hence I shall take good bills on Popayan, for on gold I lose too much, and the silver is too heavy and does not pass twenty leagues from here in New Granada [Colombia]'; he will keep Messrs Polhemus and Mickle informed about his movements, and letters are likely to reach him sooner via Carthagena [Cartagena, Colombia] than Panama

Hartweg's accounts for 13 Apr-13 May 1842 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $5, 'keeping of three mules' $7.4 and 'repairing of saddles' $2.6

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)