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

Title

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

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/2/2/15

Date

2-16 Jan 1846

Scope & content

Written from Tepic [Mexico]

Letter No 3. On onion skin paper with detached paper backing

He encloses papers, from which 'you will be able to judge what I have been doing'; he visited Messrs Barron & Forbes [merchants in Mexico], where he was 'very cordially received', and was invited to their house, instead of staying at the 'wretched inn'; Mr Alexander Forbes [merchant and explorer in Mexico], 'the editor of the book on California' [Alexander Forbes, 'A History of Upper and Lower California', 1839] asked him to tell Mr Edgar [Thomas Edgar, treasurer of the Horticultural Society of London] that he is willing to assist the Society, and will give Hartweg letters of introduction for California; Mr Barron [Eustace Barron, merchant in Mexico] is returning to Europe at the end of the month, probably moving to southern Spain, 'Mrs B. [Mrs Barron, Candida Anorga Ferreira] being a native of that country'; he transferred £400 of the credit opened with Messrs Manning & Mackintosh [agents of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in Mexico] to Messrs Barron & Forbes, and paid £100 for freight of luggage and collections to be sent from Mexico [Mexico City, Mexico] to Vera Cruz [Veracruz, Mexico] or Tampico [Mexico]; he has heard no news of his luggage: 'it happened to arrive when most muleteers from Guadalajara [Mexico] had gone to San Juan [Tepic, Mexico], where they were embargoed by General Paredes [Mariano Paredes staged a coup d'etat in January 1846 and was declared the president of Mexico], who marched with them upon Mexico'; he has asked Messrs Manning & Mackintosh to forward his luggage to Guadalajara, as he wishes to proceed to California: 'it will be more expensive, but I rather pay a few dollars more, than losing a couple of months here'; Messrs Manning & Mackintosh say that the box and the tin case sent from Mexico arrived safely at Vera Cruz, and will be sent on a steamer; he would like to hear whether the Achimenes roots arrived in a good condition; he encloses [enclosure not present] a small paper of seeds of Lamourouxia multifida, Macromeria exserta and a new Penstemon, 'all very valuable, if they can be raised at the garden', and he will send more later

Hartweg's expenses for 2 Oct 1845-2 Jan 1846 include 'carriage from London to Southampton' $4, 'mule hire & expenses from Vera Cruz to Mirador [Zacualpan, Mexico]' $9.6, 'licence for carrying arms' $1, 'expenses on the road for self, mozo [servant] & horses' $11.2 and 'a case for seeds & soldering of a tin case' $2.6 [here the list includes 23 more items], and cash received 'from the treasurer' $250, 'from Messrs Manning & Mackintosh, Mexico' $98.6 and Messrs H.J. Blume & Co' in Guadalajara $70

Extent

3 page letter (3 sheets and 3 sheets of backing paper)

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)