Letter from George Don to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Horticultural Society, Regent Street, London
Information
Title
Letter from George Don to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Horticultural Society, Regent Street, London
Record type
Archive
Original Reference
RHS/Col/2/4/9
Date
11 Apr 1822
Scope & content
Written from Sierra Leone
Postmarked ('Charing Cross'). An opened seal is attached to the letter
Annotated at the top of the page: 'Joseph Sabine received July 19 1822, ans [answered] July 19 1822'
He has left boxes to be sent on the Fletcher; he relates the contents of the boxes; the first box contains seeds, including 30 species of Combretum; the second box contains specimens; the third box contains live plants, including 20 new species of epidendri; the fourth contains bulbs, including 150 roots of Haemanthus multiflorus and a new Bletia; he has left directions for the governor's [Charles MacCarthy, British governor of Sierra Leone] gardener to pack up and send along with the others a small box containing five species of Passiflora; the fifth box contains Lepidopleurus insects; he wishes that part of each parcel of seeds would be kept until his return 'that I would be able to give a better account of them, as all of them are new to our English gardens with the exceptions of very few'; many of the seeds are superior to the collected specimens; he regrets not having had time to 'attend to the birds as there is and will be ample employment for me in collecting plants with a few insects'; the next letter to him should be directed to Trinidad; he will be leaving the following day for Cape Coast [Ghana]. Written from Sierra Leone
Postmarked ('Charing Cross'). An opened seal is attached to the letter
Annotated at the top of the page: 'Joseph Sabine received July 19 1822, ans [answered] July 19 1822'
He has left boxes to be sent on the Fletcher; he relates the contents of the boxes; the first box contains seeds, including 30 species of Combretum; the second box contains specimens; the third box contains live plants, including 20 new species of epidendri; the fourth contains bulbs, including 150 roots of Haemanthus multiflorus and a new Bletia; he has left directions for the governor's [Charles MacCarthy, British governor of Sierra Leone] gardener to pack up and send along with the others a small box containing five species of Passiflora; the fifth box contains Lepidopleurus insects; he wishes that part of each parcel of seeds would be kept until his return 'that I would be able to give a better account of them, as all of them are new to our English gardens with the exceptions of very few'; many of the seeds are superior to the collected specimens; he regrets not having had time to 'attend to the birds as there is and will be ample employment for me in collecting plants with a few insects'; the next letter to him should be directed to Trinidad; he will be leaving the following day for Cape Coast [Ghana]