
          [in pencil at upper right: (c. 1848)]


 Dear Doctor


 I have jsut finished my
 final improvement on my system
 of duplicates. I have been working
 at it ever since I was clear of [Harris?]
 & am done just in time as I expect
 to leave town tomorrow. I may as
 well give you a brief history of my herbarium.


 I begun it in the beginning of my
 Soph. year 1832. I changed my size by
 your advice in 1838. The plants were
 arranged alphabetically till 1840 when I
 adopted the arrangement of Burnet.
 Strange to say I collected my first duplicates,
 (for Dr Mead) in 1842. The
 first I kept for myself were in 1844
 About this time I left Burnets arrangement.
 In 1844 my herbarium became so bulky
 that I could only manage it when
 on shelves like a dairy. It occupied
 about 100 ft of shelf. In 1846 I never
 found a plant in my herbarium. All
 the duplicates I gathered this year I nailed
 up in boxes. In 1847 I resorted to
 Genus covers. In 1848 I made cases

        