Hilgard, Theddore Charles 

 l8^6, April 27th 

 Belleville, III. 



TRANSLATION 



Belleville, 27 April, l&f6. 



Dear Doctor, 



Yesterday, Sunday, I received your paper and put in imraediately l^fO specimens 



of black oak, putting in 20 more than required. Selecting the specimens, I loiakoa 

 to it that they had at least 2 flower buds and nuraerous catkins; since I was in 

 doubt in which stage I should collect the male flowers, I picked mostly some 

 catkins already opened which had pollen sacs, rather than those which were still 

 closed. However, since this was not always possible for me to do, I took for the 

 rest all with still closed pollen sacs, but none, where all catkins already lost 

 their seed, because these looked very brown and meager.-For maße and Sassafrass 

 flowere specimens, thepaper arrived too late for an entire week; Saturday beütore 

 last, I had a large specimen box made and the next day I rode with it to Dr. Jürg 

 who has a great number of maples in his yard and took from there 120 specimens. I 

 arrived just at the right time since the flowers were already beginning to fall. At 

 that time, the Sassafrass was also in füll bloom and now it ie completely ceased 

 blooming. — I put the box füll of maple specimens in the basement and sprayed the 

 bfanches a little and they kept a few days, but then the male flowers and leaves 

 became spotty and brown and mouldy and the flower stems were falllng off and I 

 could not use them any more. Furthermore, the paper is barely enough for the IkO 

 specimens since half of them have always to be dried even though I only used one 

 sheet for each specimen, but still in such a way that each specimen can be covered 



sideways. I don't beliebe that the paper is enough for Aristolochia, and hardly 

 for Diospyros since they have to be turned and one side of the sheet has to remain 

 empty. Should you perhaps have more paper or could dispense with some, it would 

 really be very good if you could still send it, especially since there will be much 

 more later when the rest of the plant s are to be dried and at the same time the 

 leaf and fruit specimens of Sassafrass (220), oak and later maple. — As far as 

 Juniperus is c one e med, I never saw any growing wild here and, there fore, don(t know 

 it at all. Only here and there one can see planted in the gardens some coniferous 

 or scaly trees, but it is hard to get some from there and then there is always the 

 question whether it is Juniperus. Does it perhaps grow in the bluff s? Perhaps I 

 can collect fruit specimens if I only knew where to find it. 



Please permit me to ask you for the name of a sraall plant which I did not 

 find described in Beck.-It grows in the gardens, in the meadows, is a span high, 

 has a round, smooth, juicy stem,opposite standing leaves which are a bit fleshy, 



where one specimen has been put in 



