
          several new accessions last Spring at Wilmington,
 & my Catalogue will after all be incomplete.


 Dr. McKee [McKee?] has not the art of finding the time for anything,
 and I cannot look to him for carrying it on,
 though he is fully qualified. If he would only collect 
 diligently, I could then help him out. I found
 four or five veastiges of new plants around his
 house [underlined: around his house] last month which had not been noticed
 by him. ____ ____ I have lately entered into a 
 correspondence with Prof. Mitchell of our University, who
 seems disposed to enter cordially into a plan of cooperation
 in our pursuits after interesting subjects of
 Nat. Hist. __ His attention has latterly been given to
 Geology & its coordinatestudies, & thinks himself
 rather rusty in botany. My plan has been to unite
 the efforts of Naturalists in this State as a means
 of incitement to greater efforts & of preservation
 of their observation & discoveries. The trouble is, 
 that with the exception of Mitchell, there is no
 decent Naturalist in the State that I know of.
 Croom [Croom?] & Loomis were incipient Botanists, but they are
 both gone. McKee [McKee?] is going [underlined: going] to do something when he
 gets his affairs well arranged & settled. Our only course
 therefore is to do pretty much all ourselves, or turn to &
 make Naturalists out of new material if we can find
 any. -- I find in a file Newspapers published in this
 place a [?] Lincolnensis [?], by Dr. Hunter of Lincoln
 County. It is a mer Catalogue, very incomplete, & includes
 only two grapes [underlined: grapes]. I should judge there were about
 3-400 species in all. [added: in ^ [?] Catalogue.] I shall try to get hold of him
 in a few weeks. He had the misfortune to lose his
 house and [added: most] of his furniture by fire a week or two
 since, so that I presume his plants are consumed, & I
 am informed taht he used to preserve them.


 I am anxious to know the fate of my late box of plants
 which I sent you from Wilmington. I had hoped I should
 have some opportunity to examine my plants this winter
 but I know not if I shall. I have three station to [?]

        