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Correspondence of Asa Gray and G. W. Clinton |
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The
Correspondence of Asa
Gray (1810-1888) and George
William Clinton (1807‑1885) 1870 Vol. 6 (128) [L 85] Boston, January 5, 1870 My Dear Clinton I have a quarter hour of enforced leisure here at the Academy, and I
think I will drop you a line lest you should wrongly think I am not going to
respond to your note of welcome home. I duly received it, but there are more
letters to write than I can well manage, & I let it slide awhile. I am now getting settled down to work the College part of it that
wears me most and pleases me least. One of these days, I mean to have a new photograph, and I will send
you one. If it comes without signature I will know you will set me down as a n.
sp. You have no idea how venerable I look! Lately, you were called to my mind by my chucking into your pigeon‑hole
a few plants ‑ adding them to a few that have been lying there while I was
away. As soon as by any other windfall it gets full, I will dispatch them, if
you like, by Express. At present it would not pay you. Do you hear ought of Paine, Jr.? Our wanderings did not tend far eno' E. [=East] to see him.‑
And I have never had a word from him. Perhaps he favors you now &
then. Torrey is coming next week, to make us a little visit. My wife is but so so. The sudden death of a sister‑in‑law
soon after we returned gave cares & anxieties along with sorrow ‑
and then told on her sensitive frame. She would join ‑ if she knew of it ‑ in the hearty good
wishes for the New Year ‑ which please receive ‑ tho' tardy ‑
from Yours ever A. Gray Recd Jan 7 Note Sereno Watson,
Curator of the Gray Herbarium, and John M. Coulter, Professor of Botany in
Wabash College issued the Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States,
including the district east of the Mississippi and north of North Carolina
and Tennessee. The sixth edition of 1889 ‑ my book is called the
"second issue", was "revised and extended westward to the
100th meridian by Sereno Watson and Coulter. Gray's reference
to himself as a new species is perhaps an unkind reference to Clinton's
Strawberry. Vol. 7 (43) [E 191] [embossed paper] "Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.; blue ink]
July 7, 1870 My Dear Clinton. Now that I have a little chance to breathe and look after
correspondence, I am going to try to solve a puzzle which has perplexed my
mind, viz. ‑ the reason of your long silence. Not a word from you,
later than your cordial letter of welcome on our return from abroad ‑
to which I think I responded. Pray tell me ‑ what can have happened? Perhaps you have been as much worned with overwork, and pressed for
time as I have been ‑ and in that case, I can well excuse and account
for what has seemed to me an ominous silence, ‑ which has for a good
while made me feel uncomfortable. If anything is wrong, you will frankly say
so to your old friend A. Gray Recd. July 9 Vol. 7 (100) [E 130] [blue ink] Nov. 9, 1870 My Dear Old Friend The last first. I return the plant as it came, only giving it a dose
of corrosive sublimate and I pronounce it to be Bejaria racemosa on p. 266 of
Chapman. Sorry for your thumb. Lately I ["cut" crossed out] smashed
the fore‑finger of my right hand: but it is all right again, only the
nail ebony‑colored. Now for April 5. Now your Grass is Vilfa vaginaeflora ‑
and has healthy oval seed. I don't know what the [linear] means: but I will (in daylight) look
to my herb. specimens and see. I think the grain so described must have been ergotized.
Ergo, it is wrong, & your grain is right. I must look to it, and own up
if wrong, tho. it goes across the grain to do so. What, have not seen the Pharaonic beard! Well here it is! A great comfort & time saver. The owner thereof (D.v.) [deo
volente] will be 60 years old before 10 days come. Well, I meant to have responded to your kind letter. But so it is.
If I answer at once, all right: But if once a letter gets shelved in a
certain pigeon‑hole, woe be to it ‑ and to me ‑ maxima
culpa. But I have more distractions than ever: and my wife is poorly,
and [dosen't] [...rise] me up to many things
‑ and you are such a forgiving soul ‑ making
it almost a pleasure to sin against you. Oh, dear. I have been ordering species‑paper lately ‑ and
have overlooked you. Well I will spare you a couple of reams if you wish, from my
own stock. Genus ‑ paper ‑ I would not spare a sheet of to any
soul but you ‑ nor very much to you. How little can you do with? No new Gen. Pl. till about April next. My wife sends her love, & I am ever your A. Gray Recd. Nov. 11 Bejaria Juss. is
a synonym of Befaria Mutis. in L. f., a species of the Ericaceae. Vol. 7 (104) [E 128] [blue ink, bleeding, on embossed stationary] Botanic Garden,
Cambridge, Mass. 17, Nov. 1870 Dear Clinton I have your pleasant favors of 12 & 15. To‑day I have summoned energy and have put up for you, in a
bundle, inclosed in a box for greater safety, 2 reams of Herb. species paper,
& 240 sheets (i.e. 1/2 ream) of Genus covers ‑ And I have addressed it to Academy of Natural Sciences Buffalo. It
will be taken by Express to‑day or to‑morrow. I have a class about [ ]
& can't write [now?] that herb. paper cost me ‑
within a small [p..tion] of &5 a ream ‑‑‑ 2 reams
$10.00 The Genus‑covers cost $7 a ream ‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
1/2 " 3.50So you will have to scrape
together $13.50 for Yours ever A. Gray recd. Nov. 19 & ansd, inclosing $13.50 Vol. 7 (106) [E 126] [blue ink, embossed] Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. Day‑before‑Thanksgiving
[1870] Dear Clinton Cash ($13.50) only received. You are a prompt paymaster. Wright is
off for his Thanksgiving vacation. When he returns he shall tell you what colls. of Cuba he has at
present. I rather think that beyond Ferns, there are no Crypts. left, except
some Fungi ‑ & perhaps a few Algae. There will be mosses one of these days, if Sullivant ever attends to
them. I think the fullest set of his Phaenogamous Plants & Ferns left
will not go above $100. The Photos are getting scarce with me & the
photographer too far off. Will the bigger one do? From his ferocity to his Voracity A. G. Recd. Nov. 24 Vol. 7 (115) [E 116] Dec. 3d [1870] Dear C. Guatemala stuff came to‑day.
I have named ‑ as far as genus ‑ a lot of the determinables ‑
have laid aside a 1/2 dozen to look at by daylight, if the fit holds ‑
& throw away the rest. All saved goes back to you on Monday along with a
pigeon‑hole of stuff that has accumulated here for the last 4 or 5
years. You didn't say 1. if the Herb. paper reached you 2. if the larger photograph in letter reached you. Wright's Cuban Pl. are $10 ‑ the 100. A better thing for you is a coll. soon coming of California plants
by Kellogg, &c. ready soon ‑ to which Bolander's later coll. will
be added. I suppose same price Ever Your A. Gray Recd. Dec. 6 |
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