1768.] " TO HUMPHRY MARSHALL. 497 



Loudon, 29th lOmc 1708. 



Respected Friend : 



I am greatly obliged to thee for several parcels of curious seeds, 

 birds, and insects. I should have acknowledged thy last valuable 

 cargoes sooner, but have been searching, in vain, for thy last letter, 

 having somehow or other mislaid it ; and with it, the list of boo 

 thou mentioned as being acceptable to thee. 



I have sent by our friend, John Hunt, who is returning to 

 Pennsylvania, a small pocket-glass for viewing flowers, and ten 

 guineas in consideration of thy time and trouble, in collecting these 

 things for me. If Thomas Fisher has not yet sent thee a set of 

 Anthony Purver's Translation,* upon showing him this note, 1 

 doubt not but he will deliver thee one, and may place it to my 

 account. 



As it may fall in thy way, I should be glad thou would continue 

 thy care in collecting for me such seeds and plants as I have not 

 hitherto received from thee ; and I think it would be worth while 

 to sow a part of all the seeds thou gathers, in thy own garden, or 

 some little convenient spot provided for the purpose. There are 

 many curious seeds that lose the property of vegetation by a sea- 

 voyage. The plants thus raised by seed at home, might be re- 

 moved from the bed they were sown on, the second autumn, or 

 spring following, into boxes of earth, and sent to us in the spring, 

 so as to arrive here in the third or fourth month, and would then 

 succeed very well. 



I doubt not but many of our gardeners would be glad to purchase 

 such boxes, containing assortments of new and curious plants, at a 

 considerable price, and sufficient to pay for the care and pains in 

 raising them. 



There is a curious water plant, the Colocasia, that grows in some 

 deep waters in the Jerseys, perhaps in your province likewise. It 

 has a beautiful red flower, broad leaves, and a singular seed-vessel, 

 formed like a cup cut off and covered with holes containing large 

 round seeds, f It is well known to thee, I doubt not. AVe have 



* This refers to a translation of the Bible, then recently published under the 

 auspices of Dr. Fothekgill. The "set," mentioned in the letter, was duly re- 

 ceived, and is still carefully preserved in the Marshall family. 



f The " Colocasia," here spoken of, is the Nelumbium luteum, of Willdehow, a 

 magnificent aquatic, sometimes called ' Water Chinquapin," in the vernacular. 



