
          Recd. Jany. [January] 4th 1837
Ansd. [Answered] Apr. 17th

Glasgow, Nov. 4, 1836.

My dear friend,

I had the happiness yesterday to receive [receive] your 
long & welcome letter. It gives me much agreeable 
news, particularly in telling me that you have recieved 
the government appointment to investigate 
the botany of N. [New] York State, & in the assurance 
that a botanist is about to be sent to Santa 
Fée [Fé]. It is upon this subject particularly that 
I write to you thus early. You know how deeply 
I feel interested in the botany of all N. [North] America, 
from Mexico to the extreme Arctic regions. Nothing 
could give me more pleasure than to learn
that you will send a collector to the southern 
extremity of the Rocky Mountains, & I rejoice particularly 
that you have fixed upon the person 
who is to be the collector, & that that person is 
allowed to offer his collections to the public. I 
shall this day send £10 to your relative Mr. 
Shaw at Liverpool for my subscription towards
his outfit. You, I am sure, will see that I have
as fair a return as circumstances will allow,
but as I am aware that such journies [journeys] are attended 
with some layout, if I have no return I 
shall not complain. Should insects be collected, 
I shall not be unwilling to take a portion of 
them (for Joseph [Hooker]) particularly beetles. You 
are perhaps aware that the best mode of preserving 
beetles is to kill them & [perch?] them loose (without pinning
them) in boxes, between layers of silk paper &
with a little camphor. An immense quantity may
thus be stored in a small compress & they can afterwards 
be pinned & their legs & antennae displayed at home, very 
beautifully. Plants, however, I trust will account the 
greatest share of his attention & especially the mountain
plants. He will meet with cactuses, without 
        