Letter from Jos. D. Hooker [Joseph Dalton Hooker] to George Maw
Information
Title
Letter from Jos. D. Hooker [Joseph Dalton Hooker] to George Maw
Record type
Archive
Original Reference
MAW/1/172
Date
16 Jun 1878
Scope & content
Written from Kew. Manuscript
He is glad that Maw is safely back and enjoyed his trip; he too was struck by the ‘mature aspect’ of Boston [United States of America] and many other towns and villages in New England; the Americans think themselves a young people, but they are far past youth, and only when looking closely you notice that all the buildings are new; he was interested by Maw’s account of heating Stockport[?] by steam; he has heard for a long time that dwellings, especially those of the poor, could be heated by pipes at minimal cost; he is sorry Maw did not see Thurber [George Thurber, American naturalist] as he liked him very much; nothing is new at Kew apart from calls to open the garden early, which will go before Parliament and if successful will turn everything upside down; he is worried by the correspondence and interviews with ‘brainless MPs’; their herbaceous ground is doing very well, but robberies are more and more common, and Goldring [William Goldring, in charge of the herbaceous ground at Kew until 1879] wants higher wages which they do not have available; the lilies in the beds are worse than ever, but they do well in the enclosure by the frames; they are rapidly printing the Marocco [Morocco] journals which Ball [John Ball, botanist] has finished; they have printed past [the section on] Sectana [Sektana, Morocco, a Berber tribal area]; he thinks it will be an instructive book; he was surprised to find that Acacia gummifera is only known from their specimens; he asks Maw to use any influence he may have with any MPs to help prevent the early opening of Kew, which isn’t horticulturally viable; anyone who comes on business as a gardener or botanist, as well as the scientific staff, should have some hours for their pursuits