Written from Myddelton House, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. Manuscript
He thanks Robinson for the reprint of ‘Farewell to Journalism’ and will prize it; he often means to write to him but is either busy or weary; he would like to visit Robinson when the days are longer; he has had a trying year as his father died, so he has not travelled much; he feels unsettled as he has a life interest in Myddelton House and cannot sell it, but his income is insufficient to keep up the estate; it is not a show garden, just a collection of all he can grow that is interesting or beautiful, which he distributes to others who wish it; he thinks some of the glass houses must be pulled down as they are costly to maintain; the beds and shrubberies are crammed with good plants and need attention, and he wishes he could turn it into a wild garden like ‘dear, good Kingsmith’s’ but it is not suitable for that; it is sad to watch it go back; now the war is over he could work with tulips and seedlings again, but labour [costs] would cripple him; he is delighted with the pruning of a large yew, following Robinson’s lead; he illustrates the tree before and after with an ink sketch; many plants (he names privet, buddleia and others) have suffered in the snow in a way he does not recall happening before last March; he had a letter from Farrer [Reginald Farrer] who was to set out for Upper Burma yesterday, an inhospitable place with wild inhabitants and largely untouched by collectors; when he was last in Edinburgh Balfour [Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour] and Farrer were looking for a destination for plant hunting and they all looked at maps of that district; it should link the flora of China and the Himalayas, and the plants should be hardy; he hopes Grove [Arthur Grove] and Wanench[?] will come to examine the bulbs of a new Chinese lily that has done well with him, the result of Farrer’s last quest; he sends greetings to Nurse [Mary Gilpin] and Dr Wallis