l86l.] OF FLOWERS. 269 



of the ' Fertilisation of Orchids/ that he built himself a green- 

 house. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (Dec. 24th, 1862) : 



" And now I am going to tell you a mos't important piece 

 of news ! ! I have almost resolved to build a small hot-house ; 

 my neighbour's really first-rate gardener has suggested it, 

 and offered to make me plans, and see that it is well done, 

 and he is really a clever fellow, who wins lots of prizes, and 

 is very observant. He believes that we should succeed with 

 a little patience ; it will be a grand amusement for me to 

 experiment with plants." 



Again he wrote (Feb. I5th, 1863) : 



" I write now because the new hot-house is ready, and I 

 long to stock it, just like a schoolboy. Could you tell me 

 pretty soon what plants you can give me ; and then I shall 

 know what to order ? And do advise me how I had better 

 get such plants as you can spare. Would it do to send my 

 tax-cart early in the morning, on a day that was not frosty, 

 lining the cart with mats, and arriving here before night ? 

 I have no idea whether this degree of exposure (and of course 

 the cart would be cold) could injure stove-plants ; they would 

 be about five hours (with bait) on the journey home." 



A week later he wrote : 



"You cannot imagine what pleasure your plants give 

 me (far more than your dead Wedgwood ware can give you) ; 

 H. and I go and gloat over them, but we privately confessed 

 to each other, that if they were not our own, perhaps we 

 should not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf." 



And in March, when he was extremely unwell he wrote : 



" A few words about the Stove-plants ; they do so amuse 

 me. I have crawled to see them two or three times. Will 

 you correct and answer, and return enclosed. I have hunted 

 in all my books and cannot find these names,* and I like 

 much to know the family." 



* His difficulty with regard to with regard to a Lupine on which 

 the names of plants is illustrated, he was at work, in an extract from 



