Correspondence of Asa Gray and G. W. Clinton
Edited by P. M. Eckel
Res Botanica
Missouri Botanical Garden
October 13, 2005
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The Correspondence of

Asa Gray (1810-1888) and

George William Clinton (1807‑1885)

 

1872


 

 

 

Vol. 8 (133) [H 85]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass., embossed]

 

22 April [1872]

 

Dear Clinton

 

So you did not come ‑ sorry are we.  I am whelmed with work. Oregon list most printed. 665 nos at 8. = $53.20.

 

If you will notify me that you have sent a check payable to order of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hall, Athens, Illinois, I will square the account. Or, if you prefer, send check to me.

 

Ever,

 

A. Gray

 

Recd April 23 & inclded check on Bank of Attica to A. Gray ‑ payable to his order

 


 

Vol. 8 (138) [H 80]

 

April 27, 1872

 

Dear C.

 

Your check on Buffalo will rather bother me or Mrs. Hall to collect. So send me its check on N.Y. My wife scolds at your 1 ‑ failure to come here as promised

 

2. Omitting all reference to it in your letter now, as it you never thought of such a thing. 

 

Dr. Farlow has his hands full till end of June ‑ then goes to [to] [put] up in Algae [...] Fungi, etc., etc. When he comes home, 2 or 3 years hence, he will name all cryptogams like a book. May you & I, old fellows, be here to see!

 

Ever

 

A. Gray

 

Recd April 28, 29th sent him bank draft for $53.20

 


 

Vol. 8 (143) [H 75]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. embossed]

 

April 30th [1872]

 

Dear Clinton

 

Your draft is safely in my pocket, and the amount credited to [it ...]. My wife has been only complimented in my best language. And now I will tell you ‑ what I must have overlooked before ‑ I know not why ‑ that Libonia floribunda is correctly named. It is a new genus (Trop. Amer.) of Acanthaceae, not yet in most books ‑ and it was named for the poor devil of a collector ‑ Libon, now no more.

 

Ever Your

 

A. G.

 

Recd. May 2

 


 

Vol. 10 (189) [A 93]

 

Cambridge, July 27th 1872

 

Judge Clinton,

 

Dear Sir,

 

Yesterday I mailed to you a copy of the "Enumeration". I have been quite disappointed not to be able to send you the Hawaian mosses and algae, which are all named, but I wait for the Hepaticae which Mr. Sullivant put into the hands of Mr. Austin of N. Jersey.

 

Will you have the goodness to send me a Buffalo newspaper that contains the advertisement of steamers that go up to Lake Superior? You will confer quite a favor by so doing.

 

With much respect,  Mary Mann

 

[Recd July 27]

 


 

 

Vol. 8 (199) [H 16]

 

Botanic Garden

 

Cambridge, Sept. 3d, 1872

 

G. W. Clinton, Esq.

 

Buffalo

 

Dear Sir,

 

Dr. Gray is not yet returned form Du[buque?] & California, but is expected home in a few days.

 

Your plant is identical with herbarium specimens of Torilis Anthriscus (or Caucalis Anthriscus according to Bentham & Hooker.) I find no note of its having been before collected in this country. T. nodosa is naturalized in California.

 

Very Respectfully

 

Sereno Watson

 

Recd Sept.  6

 

Torilis is in the Umbelliferae. Homer House (1924 New York flora) mentioned (p. 529) Torilis anthriscus (L.) Gmel. and noted Clinton's Buffalo collection (26th Report N. Y. State  Museum 48. 1874).

 


 

Vol. 8 (203) [H 11]

 

Cambridge, Sept. 23, 1872

 

Dear Sir,

 

Dr. Gray intends ordering a supply of Herbarium paper from the manufacturers. Do you wish to take advantage of the opportunity and join in the order?                       

 

Yours very truly

 

Sereno Watson

 

for A. Gray

 

Hon. George W. Clinton, Buffalo, N.Y.

 

Recd Sept. 28 & ansd ‑ yes, 4 or 5 reams

 


 

Vol. 8 (205) [H 9]

 

Printed paper "Botanic Garden, Cambridge Mass.]

 

Sept. 30th, 1872

 

My Dear Sir,

 

Your favor of 28th is at hand and your request for 5 ‑ 6 reams Herbarium Paper noted.

 

The Torilis is found all right, has gone into the Herbarium and mentioned in review copy of Manual. Please accept copy of "Sequoia".

 

Yours very truly

 

A. Gray. pr. S. Watson

 

P.S. Mr. is all the title that I claim or [...ain,] and am very indifferent about that. S. W.

 

Recd Oct. 1

 

In the sixth edition of Gray's Manual revised by Watson & Coulter, the specimen is reported as Caucalis Anthriscus, Hudson from "Ohio, etc." where it has been "Nat. from Eu." No reference to New York. p. 201. According to Zander and Pierce (1979) all specimens from the Niagara Frontier Region of Torilis anthriscus (of authors) are Torilis japonica (Houtt) DC. or Hedge Parsley. The species is rare in the region.

 


 

Vol. 9 (2) [C225]

 

[printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass., same as Gray's letters this year ‑ 1872]

 

[Top of page written: 10 Reams, @ 4.86 = $48.60] Oct. 16th, 1872

 

My Dear Sir,

 

I am today notified that the order for Herbarium paper is filled, and we send the manufacturer instructions to forward direct to you 10 reams. Should you want the additional two reams asked for by you, we can probably furnish them. It costs $4.86 per ream.

 

Addressed to G. W. Clinton

 

Acad. Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N.Y.

 

Yours very Truly

 

A. Gray

 

pr. S. Watson

 

Hon. G. W. Clinton, Buffalo, N.Y.

 

Recd Oct. 18. 23d mailed Gray a draft for $48.60

 


 

Vol. 9 (10) [C 215]

 

[printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Oct. 24, 1872

 

My Dear Clinton

 

Yours of 17 & 23d & the check for $48.60 are received.

 

I think I remember having a separate lot of Genus‑covers for you ‑ paper that does not match my present sort. I do not want to spare any of that: for the state of Herbarium ‑ funds will not allow me to buy a new lot this year, & I can get on without, if I am stingy. But I presume I can get ‑ as much or as little as you want to match your own, if you will send me a sheet as a pattern. Pray do and see what we can do.

 

About 500 men could stand on Gray's Peak and each of them see a great range of view. If Mrs. G. gets time she will write you all about it.

 

That Eritrichium is as high a flowering plant as any on Gray's Peak.

 

Ever Your very busy old friend

 

A. Gray

 

Recd Oct. 25, ansd 27th

 

@Eritrichium is a genus in the Boragineae, studied by A. Gray

 


 

Vol. 9

(13) [C 212]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Oct. 30th, 1872

 

My Dear Sir,

 

Dr. Gray has been in town today and done the best he could for you in the way of Genus paper ‑ not greatly to his satisfaction. That is he sends you two samples of papers, one costing 12 cents, the other 17 cents per pound, and either can easily be cut to the size you want. If either will do until such time as he may be ordering for himself, he will send you whatever quantity you need. 

 

The right sort of paper is found in the workhouses only in rolls.

 

Yours very Truly

 

Sereno Watson

 

for A. Gray

 

Hon. G. W. Clinton, Buffalo, N.Y.

 

Recd. Nov. 2, & ansd Nov.

 


 

Vol. 9

(19) [C 205]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Nov. 6th 1872

 

Dear Sir,

 

Dr. Gray will see to your Genus cover paper today.

 

The specimen seems to be a Melochia, and it looks a little like M. melio..aefolia, (which Wright collected in Cuba,) but it is not worth the while to spend time over such an incomplete fragment. Better material would draw a more satisfactory answer.

 

Thursday morning. ‑ Dr. Gray was in town yesterday and succeeded in finding for you a better paper than the sample which was sent you, and which he thinks will answer your purpose very well. The ream is to be cut up to your size and will give you 1920 sheets, at 10 cents per lb. 

 

The paper will go forward directly and Dr. Gray will see to the payment for you.

 

Yours Very Truly

 

Sereno Watson

 

Recd Nov. 9

 

Melochia is in the Buettneriaceae, or the Chocolate Family. There are about 25 species in tropical and subtropical regions to the genus. Buettneriaceae was treated as a synonym of the Sterculiaceae in Bentham & Hooker's Genera Plantarumm vol. 1.

 


 

Vol. 9

(21) [C 203]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Nov. 9 1872

 

Dear Clinton,

 

I want to help you much to your genus covers ‑ have made 3 journies into Boston & to several stores ‑ the last but one I found what will well suit, had to have a Ream of big paper cut into 4 for you. But when I went yesterday it was not yet back from the cutter. I do hope you will get it early next week. 

 

Ever your busy old friend,

 

A. Gray

 

Recd Nov. 11

 


 

Vol. 9 (24) [C

 

[on coarse, yellowed paper]

 

Cambridge, Nov. 11 [1872]

 

Dear Clinton.

 

This is 1/2 the sheet sent out to me as specimen of your 4 reams. But within a few hours of the sending ‑ before I took it from the P. O., the store, paper, and every other like store was burned. So you must wait a while. The blow here is heavy in many quarters. 

 

Ever Your

 

A. Gray

 

Recd Nov. 14

 

O'Connor, Thomas R. 1984. ed. 2. Bibles Brahmins and Bosses, a short history of Boston. Boston, Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston. There was a great fire in Boston in 1872 starting in the evening of November 9 and lasting until morning. In it the city's old commercial and part of its residential districts were gutted. The availability of water was inadequate to control the conflagration, due to bad plumbing, hydrants, pipes, etc., and the horses used to pull the fire apparatus were "considerably hindered by the effects of an epizootic ailment that had felled most of the horses" (Adams, Russell B. Jr. 1977. The Boston Money Tree, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.) The fire destroyed sixty‑five acres "of Boston's business and commercial district, destroying property valued at some $75 million." (O'Connor).

 


 

Vol. 9

(30) [C 194]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Nov. 22, 1872

 

My Dear Clinton

 

I looked up our manila‑paper friend & renewed the order ‑ which I hope will now soon be executed. He fills orders at the same price ‑ tho there is a rise. But I pay for the cutting of the burned lot too.

 

As to losses by fire ‑ which you kindly enquire of, we lost only about [$1] our insurance stock. Mrs. Gray's brother & brother‑in‑law lost a good deal, not killing, but rather trying & dear Mrs. Loring, the most charitable & best woman in the world, the means of doing much good for a year or so, losing about 2/3 or 1/2 her income (rents). But all will come right.

 

Ever Your

 

A. Gray

 

Recd Nov. 23

 

Serious fires in Chicago in 1871 and Boston 1872 "put a strain on fire insurance companies" Clough p. 172.

 


 

Vol. 9 (35) [C 179]

 

Cambridge Dec. 3d, 1872

 

Hon. G. W. Clinton:

 

Dear Sir:

 

I am sorry about the Cuban Fungi. I find remaining five sets of them, 310, 286, 269, 250, 210. I don't know which of these sets No. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 you are fairly entitled to to correspond with the set of Phenogams. I doubt if Prof. Gray has any memorandum of the number of your set and my summer's farming has driven all such matters out of my head, and I had quite forgotten that I had been so remiss.

 

If you can throw any light on the matter, please shine ‑ else I suppose I had best guess at it & send you the biggest set.

 

Yours truly

 

Charles Wright

 

P.S. Shall I make up the little parcel & send by express or wait for something to come in and make a larger one? C. W.

 

Recd Dec. 5 & ansd

 


 

Vol. 9 (36) [C 178]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Dec. 5, 1872

 

Dear Clinton

 

1000 thanks for the Fungi ‑ most welcome C. Wright, now here, shall take care of them. Have they been poisoned?

 

Did you pay Wright for a set of Cuban Fungi & he not send them all this while. He evidently has no recollection thereof.

 

We read your speeches with satisfaction ‑ specially the Thanksgiving one. Torrey & [Margaret] have been here ‑ pleasant. Mrs. G. too hard worked ‑ but I heard her say, over & over ‑ I must write to dear Clinton.

 

Ever Your

 

A. Gray

 

Recd Dec. 6

 


 

Vol. 9 (43) [C 170]

 

[on a piece of blue envelope]

 

Your letter came, also Myloca[r]ium [fruits] a great stock, every one blasted, not a seed inside. Wright's package goes to‑morrow. Cuban Hepaticae named, also $17.60 They promised to send you the Herb. paper. 

 

A. G.

 


 

Vol. 9  (44) [C 169]

 

[Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. printed stationary]

 

Nov. 11, 1872

 

Hon. G. W. Clinton

 

Dear Sir