Letter from Jos. D. Hooker [Joseph Dalton Hooker] [to George Maw]

Information

Scope & content: Written from Royal Gardens, Kew. Manuscript

The glazed biscuit tallies are durable (though brittle), clean and fit for purpose; he supposes that for two or three shillings per dozen, Maw means to make the tallies and glaze them, as the writing would be best done by the horticultural establishment that will use them, who would then return them to Maw for glazing; Mr Smith [John Smith, curator at Kew] is very worried about the brittleness of the tallies, and says the shank must be longer so that they do not fall over in loose soil and become buried; he agrees that bright white tallies are ugly, but in public gardens they serve to keep the public at a greater distance; he asks Maw to make printed or written glazed hanging labels for orchids, as they are in most collections; they could sell these for two to four pence, and Maw could circulate a list of orchid names which would be kept in stock; Mr Smith has not yet succeeded in making an indelible pencil mark over white paint on the tallies but continues to experiment

Credit Line: Courtesy of David Symonds Hooker / The Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker / RHS Lindley Collections