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

Information

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

He thanks Maw for his liberal cheques; he will make sure that Miss Smith [Matilda Smith, Hooker’s second cousin] ‘has the benefit of the difference’; she copies very well; he has a great deal for her to draw from life, but she has a good eye and talent; the difficulty is to get her to study the plant and its parts well before drawing it, and again before colouring it; he must of course do the dissection himself; he is very busy with Royal Society affairs in this final week of his presidency; the best moss for Lady Hooker’s purposes would be Hypnum, of which a small hamper would last a long time; it is to pack live plants, but only now and then; if Maw has good Sphagnum for orchids, Smith [John Smith, curator at Kew] would be glad of it, and would send a good exchange in plants; he envies Maw’s upcoming trip; Miss Smith would likely be happy to go to Maw’s; she leaves them for a month on the 20th

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