
                                              West Chester, Pa.  Feby. 1.1847


      Dear Sir,


                    A young gentleman of this place
 (Mr. E. Crowell) being about to return to his studies,
 at Princeton, very politely called and offered to take
 any letter, or package I might have to send to
 you; and I avail myself of the offer, to interrupt
 the long and death-like pause in our correspondence
 by soliciting a piece of information from you.
 I have been for some time amusing myself
 with compiling a sort of Farmer's Flora - or
 a description (with such popular remarks as
 occur to me) of the useful & pernicious plants
 commonly met with on the farms of the U. States.
 I have endeavored  - as in the Flora [Castricia?] - to give
 the Etymology, or derivation of the generic names
 of the plants noticed: but there is one genus,
 named by [Capsini?] the derivation of which I have not
 the means of ascertaining, - namely, the [illegible]; se:
 parated from [Anthermis?].  Dr. Gray suggested that
 you would probably be able to furnish the Ety:
 mology of the name.  If you can, without more
 trouble than it is worth, you will oblige me.
 I have never seen any of Capsini's works, -
 and do not know whether they are in the country.
 [illegible] & DeCandolle refer to Capsini in

        