My dear Mr. Davenport, 



You will pardon this printed letter, Iknow when I ^ 

 tell you that I have adopted the type^:w»iter only because it had be- 

 come a physical necessity. Hy correspondence has grown so heavy that I 

 could not keep up with it otherwise. Just at 'chis time I am in an es- 

 pecial Strait ^for iny trip to Europe put me behind in my v^ork and it will 

 take ine until Xmas to get caught up. Rose is entirely mistaken. Iknow 

 of no other botanist who would hesitate to take your position. There 

 are numerous cases where a v?riter adopts a manuscript , herbarium or 

 "in litt." name and gives the credit to the one who first suggested it. 



It will be 189S before I take up Fournier's ferns but will call attent 

 ion to the matter then if you desire. Iv^rill try too and return to my 

 pen.altho I have been obliged to hurry it so in time past that I fear Ik 



A 



my friends will all rejoice that legibility has taken the place of un- 

 certainty in laying it aside. Yours sincerely, 



Greencastle, Ind. , 20 Nov. 1892. 



