SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 139 



and make no exertions to get out. This kind of stream 

 abounds in this country, and the people say, they cannot 

 be bridged. I think Yankee enterprise would try. 

 Though I will acknowledge that the extreme unstable na- 

 ture of the banks would make it difficult. 



Visit to Mr. Affleck. — It is entirely superfluous to say 

 that I met with a most gratifying reception from this old 

 acquaintance of yours and mine, as well as from his most 

 amiable wife. There are no brighter spots in life, than 

 these meetings of old friends. I found Mr. A. as full of 

 despondency at the result of the last cotton crop, as I 

 have a hundred others within a few days, who complain 

 with good reason of short crops and low prices. But as 

 hope is the "sheet anchor of the soul," I found him full 

 of that, upon the subject of a new business which he is 

 now about entering upon. His little place of 47 acres, 

 at Washington, Mississippi, he is now engaged in laying 

 down into a nursery of fruits, shrubs, flowers, and plants 

 — both out doors, in hot houses, and forcing beds, with 

 the intention of supplying that region, as well as the New- 

 Orleans market with such articles. He has an accom- 

 plished gardener, Mr. Drummond, from Scotland, and 

 brother of him who gave the name to Phlox Drurmmondi ;^ 

 and he has now on the way from Mr. Rivers,^ of London, 

 a great assortment of bulbs and plants, as well as all that 

 he can obtain in this country. I hope his success may be 

 commensurate with his industry. Mr. A. can exhibit 

 some of the advantages of underdraining in his garden 

 and nursery grounds. This he is doing with joints of 



^ This is the original of the common annual garden phlox, now 

 cultivated in numerous varieties. The seeds were received in Eng- 

 land in the spring of 1835, from Texas, having been collected by 

 Drummond. In October of that year it was described by W. J. 

 Hooker as Phlox Drianmondii. Bailey, L. H., The Standard Cy- 

 clopedia of Horticulture, 3:2587 (New York, 1925). 



" T. Rivers and son were prominent and skillful nurserymen of 

 London. Their catalogues were much quoted by agricultural jour- 

 nals in England and America. Charleston Southern Cabinet, De- 

 cember, 1840, p. 741; Richmond Southern Planter, 7:312 (October, 

 1847). 



