Pages 65-66 of John Damper Parks' journal and notes: 'Respecting bringing plants from China to England etc' by John Damper Parks

Title

Pages 65-66 of John Damper Parks' journal and notes: 'Respecting bringing plants from China to England etc' by John Damper Parks

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/4/1/13

Date

c.1823-1824

Scope & content

Pages 65-66: 'Respecting bringing plants from China to England etc'. Undated

This item is bound in the volume comprising journal and notes of John Damper Parks

'It's quite obvious from experience by plants under my care to and from China, the success of transporting them from one country to another depends chiefly, or at least much, in the plan and mode of sending from one to the other'; his recommended procedure is to send them during the summer season over the whole journey, which is to be achieved by leaving them for a time at St Helena [Saint Helena, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]; plants should be sent by some of the first ships leaving China, probably around November, as they will then pass around the Cape of Good Hope [South Africa] before the winter season; the plants should be left at St Helena until the later ships arrive and sent on ships arriving in England around June, July or August: 'by this mode they will have fine weather all the voyage'; a direct journey 'through all the vicissitudes and changes of climate' causes much damage, with the sudden changes in temperature, like a man 'raising a great perspiration on his body' and then going out in the cold air; this will enable many more plants to survive the journey, and the two or three months' rest at St Helena would be good for the plants, a four-month sea voyage being too much for some plants, 'as some of them do not like the sea air at all'; the same procedure of taking advantage of the seasons and climates should be adopted for plants being sent from England to China; even the hardy plants may not survive, and in fact the hardy fruit trees from England suffered much more than 'some that were exotics'; Mr Cameron [James Cameron, East India Company gardener at St Helena] has promised to take care of plants and 'fully agreed with me in my observations respecting the plants being left with him as I propose to be done'; on board the ship the most exposed part, the poop [poop deck], is recommended for plants in cases, preferable to cabins or under awnings, taking advantage of sun, air and rain to mature and harden the wood, enabling it to cope better with cold later; if the sun is too powerful, the cases can be covered temporarily in tarpaulin, 'but this is seldom necessary', as plants fare better when more exposed; with three cases of camellias from China, one was placed on the poop, and arrived safely at St Helena, while the other two cases, placed on the quarter deck under an awning, were largely dead or sickly

Extent

2 pages

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)