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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) 1874 Vol. 10 (86) [A 246] [printed Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Jany 10, 1874 Dear Good old Clinton Here is the paper‑bill. Please remit, & I will send
receipt on a [postal]. Blessings on you for the Year, & always from A. Gray Society Nat. History, Buffalo to Asa Gray, Dr. For 118 lbs Genus covers at 14 $16.52 less discount 82 $15.70 [Recd Jan. 13. 16th ‑ mailed him P.O. order for $15.70] Vol. 10 (91) [A 241] [printed post card of the US Post office: United States Postal Card]
Postal order received: thanks. Printing of Brewer's part of Fl. Calif. to
commence next week. Compositae getting on slowly. A. Gray [Recd Jan 20, 1874] Vol. 10 (101) [A 232] [printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. Jany 31, 1874 My Dear Clinton There ‑ with these few names (which I have got from Kew)
filled in or corrected, yours are as far named as my own. And that is all
that can now be done. Mexican things are immensely hard to name. And I can't stop
California or other pressing work to study those things. Your Herbm., like
others, must have a bit of unnamed things in it ‑ to keep up the proper
variety. If you are puzzled to know what orders any of these belong to, I
could tell you. But they will all be in the books. I have just got made a bit of white herbarium paper ‑ not that
I wanted any myself ‑ but because others tease me for it. After
supplying the order at cost $4.50 a ream, the rest will be turned over to
Naturalist Agency ‑ to be sold at an advance ‑ at least 20
percent. If you want any speak by return mail. If not, you must look
hereafter to the Nat. Agency. I get on with my work ‑ but only slowly. Ever Your old friend. A. Gray [Recd Feb. 4 & asked for 10 reams = $45.] Vol. 10 (119) [A 203] [on United States Postal Card] To Hon. G. W. Clinton, Buffalo, N.Y. A stout parcel of Bot. specimens goes by Express to "Soc. Nat.
Sciences, Buffalo, N.Y." on Monday ‑ to keep you busy. Sorry to hear of Judge Hall's death. A. G. [Recd. March 10] [1874] Vol. 10 (160) [A 133] [printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] June 28, 1874 My Dear Clinton I am glad to see your hand‑writing again, and propose to show
you in return a small specimen of my own. I am pegging away, get on slow,
but if I live long enough I keep my senses, I may do something. I am going to
be at home nearly all summer. Come and make us a visit. We will make much of
you ‑ will give you a day or two at a charming place on the sea coast.
There is a nest‑egg in your pigeon hole here ‑ not much yet. Ever Your Asa Gray The clover is Alsike = T. hybridum A. G. [Recd June 30] Vol. 10 (173) [A
107] Cape of Good Hope Gill Coll.
Somerset Aug. 1, 1874 Dr. Asa Gray
[FRS... [Friend of the Royal Society] My dear Sir, I have been
perforce a very poor correspondent for a long time both in the matter of
seeds and plants, thro' entire absorption of time by the College. For some
purpose of their own the Trustees declined to fill up the Classical
professorship last Christmas having previously advised themselves that I
still kept up my reading ‑ for fun. So the duty has been imposed on me,
which certainly is no fun ‑ to the utter loss of leisure for Botany or
private accounts. The arrangement will I fear continue till December after
wh. time there will be a chance of renewing plant distributions. There are
now many good things wh. should be sent for your Herbarium & wh. shall
not be forgotten. Meantime, to put in an appearance only, I forward a few
seeds which will probably be new to the garden and am My dear Dr. Gray Yours very
faithfully P. MacOwan Might I ask the
favour of your informing Judge Clinton of Buffalo that I shall have to ask
his faith & forbearance for a few months? A parcel of plants 560 sp.
destined for shipment to him was destroyed in transit ‑ to the Bay by
overturning of the wagon in one of our swollen bridgeless rivers last June,
and I have hardly yet plucked up heart of grace to recommence & see what
can be done to replace it. [Recd Sept. 18
[Dec.] 15. Wrote to Mr. MacOwan] Vol. 10 (202) [A 46, 47, 48, 49, 50] C[ambridge]. 15, Dec. 1874 My Dear old Friend Immediately on receiving your former letter, I posted to you, a page
or two of Sill. Journal, containing this ‑ which till now I thought
mentioned the price of the volume. Dear Torrey's & the rest. I now
see that the price is not mentioned. I suppose I was ashamed to mention so
small a matter ‑ only 10 dollars. I wish I could give it.
But it has put me first to last not a little out of pocket. There is a little
in your pigeon hole ‑ not much now, Watson & I being too pressed
with hard work to think of pigeons & such small game. Shall I send what
there is ‑ with the stout [start?] volume? Well, we were sorry not to see you. Don't come now ‑ house
full of invalid nieces & Mrs. G. hospital matron. But do come in spring,
with the early birds. Do you know ‑ sorrow of sorrows ‑ dear Hooker lost his
wife ‑ suddenly, unexpected heart‑disease. Poor fellow. Well, I like [Varieties?] and mean to swear by it, ‑ pitching
of course off hand into your criticisms. Grasses are admirably arranged for cross‑fertilization ‑
by wind ‑ see them hang out their anthers, turn them inside out, giving
the light pollen to the wind ‑ then see those great complex plumes of
stigmas, spreading like a net to catch the same. About anther, & pistil of hermaphrodite flower being, for that
matter, different individuals ‑ I put in a dem[...], in the legal, not
the popular sense of the word, i.e. "Well, what of it." That's
dem..., is it not. If they are different individuals they are too closely related to
interbreed with propriety, at least as a rule, and so wider‑breeding is
provided for, & winds and insects taken advantage of for the purpose. But even that is one step better than [hid bred..?]‑breeding
‑ this affording no intermixture at all. When you once get a clear firm hold of the principle, you will see
your way clear. Till you do all will seem at sixes & sevens. My wife sends her kindest regards. God bless you ‑ and may the year close upon you
("frostly" ‑ 2* to‑day) but kindly. Ever Your attached Asa Gray [Recd Dec. 18] Vol. 10 (203) [A 43, 45] [printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Dec. 21, 1874 Dear Clinton Merry Xmas be to you & yours ‑ or at least a happy one. Your $10.‑ received ‑ copy of the Torrey Vol. & 1‑
laid out for you to go by Express. None of my part printed except that 1 vol. text & [Atlos plio]
which you say you have. There is still in my hands a copy or two of
Sullivant's Mosses of Wilkes' Exped. ‑ about which see the slip
from Silliman I sent you ‑ costs also $10 ‑ is all, tallplio
[folio?] Paine, J. A. was here yesterday ‑ back from the land of Gilead. Ever Your A. Gray Dr. Palmer has made some S. Florida collections ‑ 5 sets [...]
Highest 672 nos. Lowest 265 nos. at $8.‑ the 100. Mr. Watson has them
in charge. Fair specimens A. G. [Recd. Dec. 22 & ansd. ditto 23] Vol. 10 (204) [A 39, 40, 41, 42] [printed stationary: Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass.] Xmas [eve],
1874 My Dear Clinton, Recieved another $10.‑ of yours. Well, on looking round, I find ... copy of Sullivants folio
of Musci of Wilkes' Expedition. I thought I had some ‑ else I should
not have advertized them. Well, I know that dear Sullivant had some left, and if you want it,
just write to his brother Joseph Sullivant, Esq., Columbus, Ohio, and
he will, I think, supply it. At least he can tell what has become of the copies.
But don't tell him you have paid me for it. On the contrary ‑ I pocket that $10.‑ for Xmas ‑
and instead I send you ‑ in sheets, I am sorry to say ‑ the vol.
of my Wilke's Expl. Exped ‑ the only one out ‑ or very likely to
be printed ‑ tho' there is more ready ‑ and the atlas of 100
plates. The price of the two together is $30, but I offer it to you for $10,
since, if I had the Sullivant volume you wanted, I suppose I should have
given you my old Expl. Exped. stuff. This & the vol. containing the Torrey work, & a few plants
in pigeon‑hole are all put up, advised, & will be called for by
Express‑man Xmas morning. Palmer's Florida plants shall be sent you, when you like, to pay S.
Watson for, at your leisure. They are all named, by him & me. You will be
helping a poor‑devil who is now on his way to explore the
islands off the coast of California. But, in his Florida collections common
northern things as well ‑ specimens fair to middling ‑ with $50
odd dollars no doubt. And now let us, veterans, wish each other all the good things we can
for the coming year, and thankfully accept what comes. These latest years have been my happiest, I am sure ‑ &
even the most comfortable. Ever Yours affectionatly A. Gray [Recd Dec. 28] |
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