1761.] TO WILLIAM BARTRAM, JR. 421 



Cousin Billy desires to be remembered to thee and sister ; so I 

 conclude with much love to thee and sister, and remain your affec- 

 tionate brother, 



John Bartram. 



JOHN BARTRAM TO WILLIAM BARTRAM, Jr., AT CAPE FEAR, N. C. 



December the 27th, 1761. 



My dear Son : 



Cousin Billy tells me that your Loblolly Bay, or Alcea, bears 

 a very sweet blossom. I wish thee would look well out for some 

 of its seed ; perhaps it is not all shed, nor the water Tupelo. I 

 want seed of everything we have not ; and thee is a good judge of 

 that. The Alcea and the Horse Sugar I want much. They are 

 very difficult to transplant. I had them from Charleston, but they 

 are gone off. Perhaps your northern one may do better. It is 

 strange that the red sweet Bay, some of which grows naturally in 

 Virginia, should not bear our frost ; and yet the great Magnolia. 

 that grows naturally on the south of Pedee, seems to bear our frost 

 tolerably. "What havoc our present frost will make with the rest, 

 I can't yet say ; but, however, I want to try all, to be enabled to 

 judge which of your plants will bear our rigorous frost, and what 

 will not. 



Thee disappointed my expectation much, in not sending me any 

 seeds by Captain Sharpless ; and I know your seeds were, some 

 or other, ripening from the day thee set thy foot on Carolina 

 shore, until Sharpless's departure, and such as were within a 

 mile or two of thy common walks, or most of them within sight. 

 And yet I have not received one single seed from my son, who 

 glories so much in the knowledge of plants, and whom I have been 

 at so much charge to instruct therein. 



The fall is the best time to sow the native seeds. Spring may 

 do ; but many miss coming up that year. 



I don't want thee to hinder thy own affairs to oblige me ; but 

 thee might easily gather a few seeds, when thee need not hinder 

 half an hour's time to gather them, or turn twenty yards out of 

 thy way to pluck them. 



I remain thy loving father, 



John Bartram. 



