Schltr. April 23 , '20 
2 
I am very muck interested in the new ’’FOLIA”. I would 
enjoy working at this ?/ith you, although I am afraid that 
the difference in our speed would throw the bulk of the 
labor on your shoulders, I am an intermittent worker; that 
is I am a slave of inclination, and there are months at a 
stre^tch when I find botanical work of any kind a perfei^l^ 
for#of torture. You might not enjoy oollaboration with a 
man who wanders from the job. Then again you have a great 
advantage over me in the ability to turn out critical studies 
as you are near* at hand to the rich collections of types that 
are preserved in the .European herbaria. I am constantly 
deterred from publishing the results of my studies because 
I find myself obliged to consult distant types before I can 
attain finality. There is nobody in this country who is at 
work on the orchids, consequently our herbaria are almost 
useless for purposes of comparison, a feet that makes de¬ 
pendence on printed diagnoses necessary, and we all know 
the dangers that await us when we place our trust in the 
printed page, then 1 see the hosts of speois that you are 
publishing I experience a feeling of perfect hopelessness 
because I dont see how I can assimilate bo much new stuff. 
/That is a very frank satement, is it not? With this very 
slovenly introduction behind me 1 will tell you just v/hat 
il have in mind. I have in mine a painstaking, thorough job 
of eaoh genus or section of a genus that we attack. I would 
like to have a great deal to say about the format of our 
book, the typography and illustrations. Ait-noUgh we would of 
couse work independently on the genera we undertook to d<j, 
we ought to agree at the beginning that we would submit our 
manuscript to the other man before final going to press. In 
my opinion it would be best to print the book in this country. 
It might be more expensive to print here then in Germany, but 
as i would be willing to finance the book making, that object¬ 
ion would not need to be considered. Of course I cannot bind 
myself to finance a work that will extend over a number of 
years, because the times are uncertain and nobody knows what 
the future has in store for us* I would, however, pay the bills 
at the beginning and up to such time as I felt that I could 
safely do so. I am not interested in any profits and I would 
gladly allow you the benefits of profits on sales, I ai©© 
would like to propose that you do some work in this country. 
I do not know what arrangements we could make to this end, 
biit it seems to mo that we might very well come to some 
agreement that would be advantagbus to us both. Of course I 
am wholly Ignorant of your financial position and I do not 
know what your attitude would bo toward any proposition that 
I might make. If you have any suggestions to make they will 
be most welcome. In one of your letters you suggested, if my 
memory is not at fault, that you would rather welcome an 
opportunity to work in this country. In any event it would be 
•Veil for you to do some collecting in our tropics before we 
