
          me by laying violent hands on it. I cannot find a copy of  Loudon's
Arboretum Britannicum in this country.

Poor poor Mr Croom! Who does not lament his dreadful fate?
Thus to be swept away amid the brightest prospects and most eager
hopes and with his whole family is really enough to me all serious.
His intimate friend Mr. Donaldson was here when the news arrived of
the loss of the Home and appeared regret it most deeply.

I shall be down probably toward the last of the month and hope
it will not be too late then for a peep at the rare books Dr Gray
has just recd from London. I am glad to hear you think that Dr.
will go out in the frigate. If they are as long in returning as in
going out their reports scientific & historical will be for the benefit
of the next generation.

You did not lend me the 2nd part of Hooker's Icones Plantarum.
I shall be very much please to see the newsly recd no of his Bot
Miscellany or anything else which you may think interesting. Will you have
the goodness to remember some suitable time that I have an ambition to
become a member of your Lyceum. Did your Hort Society succeed
in making a new batch of officers this year or is it dead and gone?
I shall be much pleased tohear from you again [added: soon] and remain

Yours most sincerely
A.J. Downing

P.S. a little basket accompanies this
mail to convey to you Dr. [Danberg's?] discourse
of the other less literary contents - speak not.
I am making [added: an] extensive plantation of grapes & other fruits in a beautiful
warm valley about half way up the Fishkill Mts. from where I hope at some future times
to send you may a find basket. Vale
        