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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) 1871 Vol. 7 (133) [E 98] [blue ink, embossed] [Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] C. Sat. 15 [1871] Cercidiphyllum is a
genus incerta sedis. Nobody knows. Patri[n?]ia = Nab..anaceae. If I see any young woman prowling round our Garden ‑ gathering
specimens to be sent back here for names, I'll shoot her.
For Kellog's &c. collection of California plants you should
write to Prof. W. H. Bewer, New Haven, Conn., tho' I believe I have
notified him of your wish. Wright's Cuba
collections on hand ‑ are of these amounts. Phaenog. with Ferns. sets
of 660, 750, 780, 960, 1165, 1260, 1330, species. Fungi, named by Berkely
& Curtis 286, 269, 250, 210, 310 species. There, you can take your choice ‑ $10 a hundred. Expect your things back soon Ever Yours A. Gray Recd. Jan. 17, ansd. 25th There is a Patrisia,
a synonym of Ryania of the Bixineae; Patrinia, Juss. in the Valerianeae. An
example of a letter from Brewer to Clinton would be as follows: Vol. 7 (142) [E89] [printed
stationary: Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut] Jan. 30th, 1871 G. W. Clinton
Esq. Buffalo N.Y. Yours of Jan 25th
is received ‑ I shall soon be at work at Bolanders & Kelloggs
Plants, and you shall have one of the first sets ‑ I have made as yet
no estimate of the number of species. Meanwhile, just
now I am trying to raise means by subscription for the preparation of a
complete list of the species described west of the mississippi
& North of Mexico. Mr. Watson has prepared a
partial list in MSS which we wish completed & published ‑ he has
agreed to prepare it, and the Smithsonian will print it and pay $250 toward
clerical labor on its preparation. It will take $1000 to get it ready, so the remaining $750 must be raised by
subscription from the small number of botanists interested in such a work. The proposed work
will be a list of all the species of the region named, with index & of
references to the literature of each species. I have so much confidence in
Mr. Watson's fitness for the work that I have subscribed $100 and assumed the
responsibility of raising the rest, and several other botanists have pledged
various sums, from $20 to 100 each. We expect the
work to be out the present year. The Smithsonian Institution will supply
extra copies to the subscribers to the fund (the number not yet stated but to
depend upon the cost of paper and printing) that they may use for sale or
exchange, to (in part at least) reimburse themselves for their outlay. Some such work
has become a necessity, for the literature of our Western Botany is scattered
through a bewildering mass of literature. Would you or any
of the Botanists of your city that you know of, like to aid in this work. If
so please advise me at your earliest convenience ‑ and oblige Yours truly Wm. H. Brewer [Recd. Feb. 1,
ansd Feb. [4] promising $50] Vol. 7 (151) [E 80] [printed
stationary: Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, New Haven,
Connecticut] Feb. 8, 1871 My dear Sir I have yours of
the 9th in which you "cannot promise more than $50 towards the list of the
Western Plants, but hope to double it" &c. Now, I thank you for
that, and will say that there will be no need to double it. I will let you
know when the money is wanted. I have written to quite a number of botanists
and the response has been so kind, that I am sure that when I get through
(or, as district school teachers say, about boarding, "get around")
I am sure that the awards will be forthcoming. I have closed the contract
with Mr. Watson, & with the Smithsonian Institution, and the work will go
on. Good work always will go on if pushed, the
trouble is that many think it ought to run of itself, like sap in the spring ‑
merely by tapping the trees ‑ now it needs more than that ‑ and I
like what you say about your society of Nat. History ‑ such a society
needs fostering ‑ as carefully as hot‑house grapes ‑ but if
fostered & pushed & coaxed, it grows and pays well (here the simile
of hot house grapes ceases) ‑ with its fruits. I must say that I
was a little amused when I read in your letter the thanks for a "genial"
letter, ‑ begging letters are generally not of this kind,
the only way I could bring myself up to the work of writing such a batch of
them as I have, was to think of the desireableness of the work to be
accomplished ‑ such an index & catalogue has become a necessity. I
began one myself in connection with my [Cal.] botany ‑ I spent some
weeks first and last at it, tried vaious kinds of printed blanks to simplify
the labor ‑ but in spite of all I could do ‑ the work was too big
& too tedious to be done as a labor of love. I do not know of
whom foreign lichens, fungi & algae can be obtained ‑ one has to be
on the lookout for such when occasionally offered for sale ‑ if I hear
of any I will let you know. I take the
liberty of enclosing my photog[raph] may I be bold enough to ask yours
‑ to place among my other Botanical friends in my album ‑ as well
as in my remembrance. Yours truly W. H. Brewer Hon. Geo. W.
Clinton, Esq. Buffalo, N.Y. Recd. Feb. 10 Vol. 7 (139) [E 92] Friday [a few days before Jan. 29, 1871] So ‑ a letter in from
you just as the parting day stops my work, & so it gets an answer. Yes, I'll examine thoroughly your Carex rather than you
should load us with a needless new one. I am a sad sceptic of new Carices.
Send it by all means that I may nip it in the bud!
C. capillaris is an arctic ‑ alpine sort of species ‑
dosen't grow in Onondaga Co. C. fulva nobody
has got American specimens of, except Torrey one. Reason enough I could not
sent it to you. I could send on the parcels of Wright's Cubans ‑ but you would
find it a job to affix the names. Have you Grisebach's Cat. Pl. Cuba? [...] May perhaps yet be had of
[Mister Mann?] &c. I have a [drop] for you ‑ viz. to have you order this set on condition
that C. Wright puts the names on the tickets (all but such as he can't name
yet). And make him do it, as soon as he gets back from his trip ‑ at
U.S. expense, to San Domingo, ‑ may be 6 weeks hence ‑ may be
longer. Meanwhile I'll see nobody runs off with the set. I am not sure you will find a Mangrove therein: they are very hard
to make specimens of ‑ leaves fall off. I am going to look in my Herb. & if I find a specimen of
Mangrove I can spare, it will go into your pigeon‑hole. Ever Yours A. Gray [on back in pencil:] I found a poor Florida Mangrove for you ‑
& there is a chance of one from Cuba. A. G. Recd. Jan. 29 Charles Wright
was a prodigious collector of plants, to the great benefit of Asa Gray at
Harvard, who was the recipient of most of them and who promoted, raised money
for, identified, published and distributed Wright's plants. When Wright
collected in Cuba between 1856 to 1867, his work was described by August
Grisebach, a German botanist specializing in taxonomy and biogeography
(1814-1879), in a work entitled Plantae Wrightianae e Cuba Orientali, a two
part work published between 1860 and 1862. Vol. 7 (195) [E 31] [embossed stationary: "Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] April 20, 1871 Dear Clinton Did you get a parcel I discharged upon you lately? Wright has got home. Now is your time if you really want a set of
his Cuban plants. His report is that he has sets of Phaenog. & Ferns
numbering 1550, 1330, 1260, 1165, 960, 780. He has fungi, 310, 210, 250, 269, 286. Lately, what we knew not of one set has turned up of his mosses
(Coll. 1856 ‑ 1858) printed labels by Sullivant 131 species ‑
Lichens ‑ Tuckerman, 149 species. These are (the Mosses & Lichens) as rare as old Gold, & will
be snapped up, when known of. The[y] will sell for each fully 15 dollars n
gold ‑ I think that will fetch them. The Phaenog. &c. you can have the sets of for 10 dollars the
100, in currency. What sets ‑ if any ‑ will you have. Ever Your most [truly] Asa Gray Recd. & ansd April 22 Vol. 7 (197) [E 29] As to Genus‑paper, I'll see if I can find the man ‑ who
has moved ‑ that I ordered from Ordinarily to get it made he would want a considerable order. But I
could find some large Manilla paper to match ‑ nearly ‑
& have cut up to size. Have enough at once to last.
Send me a bit of your paper as pattern for me. And send me the size you will
have it, unless it is some of my own furnished you, ‑ which I
suspect. Ever A.S. [Asa Gray, April 24, 1871. Recd. April 24, ansd. 27th.] Volume 7 Wright Vol. 7 (198) [E 28] [notepaper with
fading ink, once blue‑purple] Cambridge April
24th, 1871 Hon. George W.
Clinton Dear Sir Prof. Gray has shown
me your letter asking a set of my Cuban plants. I find that the set you
indicate has been sold but the adjoining larger set (1550 sp.) & the one
next smaller (1260 sp.) are still on hand. There are over and above the sets
as they were put up a small parcel since determined and distributed of Palms
from 15 ‑ 20 species and there may be a few orchids later which have
not yet been named nor distributed. These will be very few ‑ may not
even reach these sets for they are quite scanty. Please let me
know your wishes & oblige Yours truly Chares Wright P.S. If you see
my cousins Julius or David Francis please give my love to them. [Charles Wright,
April 24, 1871, ansd 27th. Recd. 24th, ansd. 27th inclosing $100.] Vol. 7 (200) [E 26] [embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] April 28 [1871 Dear Clinton A box from C. Wright ‑ chock full ‑ goes from here to‑morrow,
by Express. addr[essed] to the Buff. [Society crossed out] Academy of Nat.
Sciences ‑ I could not add a sheet of paper. So when I next go to town
I will see if I can match & get you a small lot of Manilla &c. ‑
cut up. Wright will send his acknowledgements of the 100 dollars from
Wethersfield [Connecticut], whither he has gone for a while. Take your time
fully about any remainder. Your gold add 10 or 11 percent to currency. Ever yours A. Gray Recd. May 1 Vol. 7 (203) [E 23] [embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] May 2, 1871 Dear Clinton Here is a [go, qu.?], I think. The Cuban Lichens & Cuban
mosses must have been left out of that box that C. Wright packed & I
dispatched to you. For lo, here they must be ‑ [...] the box was as
full as it could be. And I must send you by Express. I have tried in
Boston to get genus‑paper for you. But I can't yet make it fit ‑
nor do anything to advantage ‑ unless you give order for as much as 5
reams at 17 1/2 cents a lb. I will try another place when I can. There is a chance. Ever A.G. P.S. Let me know if Wright has sent you a copy of the 8th volume.
Grisebach, Cat. Pl. Cubensis. A.G. Recd. May 4 Vol. 7 (206) [E 18 & E
19] 12 May [1871] Laid up ‑ in bed yesterday with cold & loss of voice. When I next go to town (Boston) may be tomorrow. I will try what I
can do for a few reams (say not over 5) of Genus for you, ‑
& report ‑ Species‑paper. Let see who else may want. 12 reams
would perchance tempt. Somebody else was asking for some. Oh, I have a scheme in view ‑ to make [Wilson Ph..ough??] keep
such. I'lll write to 'em. I send you the moss & lichen parcels ‑ in a bundle. ‑
As you have the Griseb. Cat. Pls. Cub. ‑ you had best return the copy
C. Wright gave you. Hurry Tuckerman into sending you his dissertations, in which he
dissertates on these Cuban lichens. Wright has later nos. than
any in Griseb. & he is bound to cite them in his List ‑
printed in Havanna ‑ & to give you names ‑ from time to time. You will find now & then a mess as to nos. I wash my hand
of it. Tackle C. Wright ‑ to heart's content. He is getting old ‑
[...] the mark & careless. Bother him as much as you like. Ever Yr. A. G. Recd. May 14 Vol. 7 (208) [E 16] Cambridge 15, Mar. 1871 Dear Clinton I can get you this paper for 12 cents a lb. ‑ large
sheets ‑ & have it cut up ‑ perhaps at some waste ‑ can
get as much or better as you re[quire] ‑ say as little as 2 reams ‑
you to pay for the cutting which would bring it up to say Paper about 48 per ream
5.76 cutting, 12 .24 say $6.00 Or, they will make a lot soon ‑ at 12 1/2 cts. a lb. ‑
cut at the mill, if you take 5 reams or more. This is not Manilla, but is fairly good. At another Mill, I can get made Manilla paper, at 20 cts. a
lb. Weigh 50 lbs the ream. Better, certainly, but cost $10 a ream. I think the former will do you well, will it not? Truly Yours A. Gray Vol. 7 (210) [E 14] [embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] 19 May 1871 Dear Clinton You leave me in total doubt, on reception of yours of 18th with $20.
‑ enclosed. What sort of paper for genus [covers] will you have? ‑ That of
which I sent you a [bit as Bottom] ‑ the cheapest. I shall infer that, & order it when I go to Boston next (I have just
been to‑day) unless you tell me by Monday that you want the highter‑priced
Manilla ‑ which you will have to wait for. So I conclude you want the
12cts paper, cut up, to size, $20 [...] As to species paper, Prof. W. J. Beal, Lansing, Michigan, wants some.
Will you write to him ‑ find out how much he would take, & perhaps
you & he could ocmbine in an order which I could get made advantageously.
Ever yours, A. Gray Sorry indeed your household is on sick list so. Recd. May 20 (Sunday) ansd 21st. W. J. Beal became
a member of the faculty of the Michigan State Ahgricultural College in
Lansing, Michigan. On campus he established a botanical garden, nursery,
arboretum and, among other positions and activities, became director of the
first Michigan Forestry Commission. Vol. 7 (211) [E 13] Boston 24, May [1871] Dear Clinton I have found some paper that I think very nice ‑ have bought a
ream for you ‑ at least 85 [inches] ‑ but have to have it cut to
size, i.e., to 16 1/2 x 24. ‑ which will waste full 10 [inches]. But I
get it for 12 cts. & pay $1. for cutting exact. Please report on it ‑ & tell me if it is cut square,
& if it suits. If you speak soon I could get as much more as you like ‑
or this may last you for the present. I hold the rest of your money ‑ subject to your order. That is the best I could do. Ever Yours A. Gray Recd. May 25 Vol. 7 (215) [E 9] Wethersfield,
Conn. June 5th 1871 Hon. Geo. W.
Clinton: Dear Sir: Prof. Gray sends me
your note to him of ?30th ult. that I may inform you myself, I suppose, how I
will bear "friendly scolding." I think I can bear such about as
well as a rhinoceros would the peppering of an elder popgun upon his
epidermis. I hate
quilldriving worse than hoeing, mowing or ploughing; yea, worse than grubbing
which I have been practising mostly of late. Moreover I am
doing what is nearly equivalent to the Flora you mention. My object in
publishing the Revisio was to give the Cubans and any one who might visit
Cuba my views of all Cuban Plants known to me. With Grisebach's Flora B. W. I
Islands [British West Indies] & Catalogus Pl. Cubensium & my Revisio
of the latter, any one visiting Cuba for the study of its flora will have in
small compass & partable form pretty fair aids for determining the
greater part of its species. You think I
suppose that I ought to prepare for Cuba some such a work as Gray's &
Chapman's for the U. States or Grisebach's for B. W. I. Islands. I have some reasons
for declining the task. I began my
botanical labors at top & worked downward ‑ of course I've not
reached the foundation & never shall I suspect. In short I'm not well
qualified for such a labor. I have no botanical training. What I know of the
science I have picked up or filched from others. Then I am poor
and can't afford the time for it and I am not sanguine enough to believe that
the sale would defray the cost of publication much less compensate me for
this and the labor too. Furthermore, such
a work if prepared at all should be adapted to the use of the people of the
island. ‑ that is, should be written in Spanish for which my knowledge
of that tongue is not sufficient though I could get good help
in this respect. You will observe
that the Revisio is shockingly printed. This is neither my fault nor Mr.
[Sauvalle's] who is indefatigable in correcting the errors of the press
without, at last, being able to make the impression even respectable. You will also
note that I have made quite a number of new species at which Prof. Gray every
little while sets up a growl; why I hardly know. I see not how I could do
otherwise. I've certainly acted with all the caution & care at my
command. I couldn't go to Kew & Paris and Berlin and Vienna to compare my
specimens with those of the Herbarium there. I haven't
certainly acted as hastily as he once did. In 1857 I sent him from Cuba a
little plant which I examined with Endlicher only & named Verbesina
pygmaea ‑ a capital name if it had been respected. He at once
pronounced it a new genus & called it Ancistrophora. I immediately, or as
soon as the transmission of letters admitted, showed him its relation to
Verbesina alata Sw. but too late to prevent its publication and the resulting
useless synonym. A good joke on Prof. G. whose forte just then was
Compositae. Yours truly Charles Wright Recd. June 6 In volume 2 of
Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum (p.379) under Verbesina L. of the
Compositae, Gray's Ancistrophora (A. Gray in Mem. Amer. Acad. ser. 2. vi.
457) was lumped with Hamulium, Cass.
The genus was "ad sectionem Verbesinae reductum". Touche Gray! Vol. 7 (217) [E 7] Wethersfield,
June 15th, 1871 Hon. Geo. W.
Clinton Dear Sir: Your favor of the
11th inst. found me putting in practice "what I know about
farming". This may not be equal to the wisdom of the Agricola of
Chappequa, but such as it is it proved of some use when my brother, who is the
farmer of the family, such as he is ‑ nor very learned ‑ nor very
careful ‑ far from it‑ in fact ‑ negligent ‑ fell
sick. So I felt called upon to "run the machine." to the best of my
ability. Today I was out
bright and early with a will to kill weeds, but the rain began to patter
thick and fact right down on my bent back which I wouldn't stoop to but
retreated to the house where thanks to the interruption to hard work I have
time to reply to your communication ‑ in part. The names of the
plants of which you send the numbers I can't send till I go to Cambridge.
Here, you will understand, I cut loose from foreign botany; only collecting
and examining such plants as I find about here, of which I am abundantantly
ignorant. The names of all the Cubans will appear before long as you already
have them, in part, in the Revisio. The orchids of my
later collections were sent to Reichenbach to be named and were not
distributed. Some of them will be sent you by and by, I trust. Along with
your letter came one from K. [R.?] beginning the list of names. But I advise you, that the collector is
scant in species & in specimens, and I trust that you will try to be
content "of a little" to "take a little". Yours truly Charles Wright Recd. June 17 Chappequa is a
town in Westchester Co., New York, just north of White Planes near the
Connecticutt border. (3) [H 224] Wethersfield,
June 30th, 1871 Hon. Geo. W.
Clinton Dear Sir I hereby
acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 26 or 27th inclosing $50. and a
list of numbers of Cuban Plants which I shall try to attend to when I return
to Cambridge after the 4th prox. Hard at work
farming & thanks to my aid in part my brother is ahead of most of his
neighbors and he has the prospect of keeping his corn the top dog in the
tussle with the weeds Yours truly Charles Wright P.S. Wethersfield
has lost its ancient reputation for odors not of Araby the [blest]. The girls
are scattered to the four winds and the lands are devoted to other uses. Many
seeds of various kinds are sent hence if not so many bulbs alliaceous &
cepacious. Recd. July 5 Wethersfield is
in Conecticut near or on the Connecticut River Valley just south of Hartford. Volume 8 (8) [H 219] [embossed paper "Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass"; letter
in fading blue ink] July 12, 1871 My Dear Clinton I do not believe you will get specimens of the new Erythmium [?]
before next spring. But you have the address [Haribault?], as in naturalist. Bentham is getting well on with 1st part of vol. [V.] Hooker, with
Rubiaceae is delaying a little, having gone to Atlas. You may see it
next winter. You know I owe you $8 (& odd cents?) What shall I pay you in.
You [remember] I keep no account with you. Ever Yours A. Gray Vol. 8 (27) [H 198] 16 Sept. 1871 Dear Clinton Triticum prostratum
is the name of your plant from Persia. I am in a dreadful mess here ‑ or I would write you a letter.
I need all "the quickness of movememt", which Miss Wilson observed,
to get on at all. Mrs. Gray having happily survived her 50th birthday late
last month, is doing as well as could be expected. She would send her love. Herbart Gray Torrey is here, & wife, & the offshoot John
Gray Torrey, & the ancestral John Torrey would be here at this moment if
he were a man of his word. Ever Yours A. Gray Recd. Sept. 18 Vol. 8 (33) [H 192] (embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass) 29 Sept. [1871] Dear Clinton Do you want a stock of delectable driers. We have lately found out the thing, & have formed it by use here,
... pads of this sheathing paper which, by a good chance we can now get cut
to size, i.e., 18 x 12 inches for 4 1/2 cents a pound. I am giving an order.
If you want to join for any quantity send order within 10 ‑ 14 days. At this thickness it will cost about $2.60 per ream. Write soon. Let any drying botanist know. Ever Yours A. Gray Recd. Sept. 30 & ansd 10 reams Vol. 8 (42) [H 182] 17 Oct. [1871. embossed: Botanic Garden, Cambridge Mass.] Dear Clinton I have just received yours of 15th enclosing $26 for dryers. Look
here: are you not a bit daft. I have just sent up the order to the mill ‑ have ordered a ton
‑ to be divided among various parties. You ordered $26 dollars worth ‑ almost a third of a ton. What
can you want of more than 300 pounds or so? Unless you want to distribute it
among many collectors. I put you down in the order for 400 pounds ‑
amounting to about $18. No one else has asked for more than 300 lbs. Now, if
you say so, I have still a chance to extend to order, & get your $26
worth. But I will not without new instructions from you, believing that you
were wild. Consider anew, & let me know how much you really need. Ever Yours A. Gray Don't send money ever, till it is asked for. Recd Oct. 19 & ansd ditto [i.e. on the same day] Vol. 8 (58) [H 166] [embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Nov. 27, 1871 Dear Clinton The Dryers are a‑making. Expect them before long. I have your appeal of 24th inst. Wright is at the paternal farm, in Wethersfield Conn. ‑ till
after Thanksgiving or more. Yes, I'll say to Dr. Von Mueller (he is very fond of the von)
that you von decent person. tho, there is no need, if you will
send him plants. From him you must take about What comes ‑
as he has small time, I think, to arrange & select. Leighton in
Shropshire, England has published a book on English ‑ or rather British
Lichens ‑ I have sent for it ‑ probably a good thing for you. In a coll. of plants made by E. Hall in Oregon ‑ sent to me to
distribute & sell for him (just because I have nothing else to do!) is
any quantity of Lichens ‑ going to Tuckerman, & mosses ‑ to
Lesquereux ‑ to distribute, I suppose. There is a chance for you. As to Lichens ‑ we
here know little. But in Algae, my aid, Dr. Farlow has been doing wonders
this summer. I have passed ‑ alas ‑ my 61st birthday ‑ I have
done nothing but potter this last year ‑ & much of my
unprofitable life. Mrs. Gray sends her love. Ever A. Gray Recd Nov. 29 Vol. 8 (72) [H 150] [embossed paper: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Dec. 20, 1871 My Dear Clinton Merry Xmas be yours. Your four hundred lbs. of plant dryers should by this reach you by freight.
I costs you only $18. Your paid me 26. I have a great idea of making myself
merry with the balance ‑ $8 is a good nice sum ‑ will buy a fat goose
& trimmings. But ‑ I will deny myself, & here is the money. My
stomach may be emptier, but my conscience clear. You will like the driers. Ever Yours with Mrs. Gray's best regards A. Gray Recd Dec. 23 |
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