Profr Balfour.
11 Gt Stuart St <1>
May 6
Dr Sir
Ld Ilchester <2> is very much obliged to you for the list of Palms. He says that he possesses Chamærops Palmetto <3> and that none of the others would be hardy on the South Coast of Dorsetshire. He is in search of the Areca sapida of N. Zealand which is hardy. Also of Madeira and Canary plants. Those which he has, do so well in Dorset – Campanula Vidalii for example (that however is Azorian) – He cannot get an Ardisia excelsa –
He proposes to send the Edinburgh Botanic Garden some bulbs, at the proper season, they are now in flower.
I think you would like to see his collection at Abbotsbury <4>
Believe me Yours very truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. The Talbots rented 11 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh, during 1863.
2. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
3. See the apparently preceding letter: Doc. No: 08702.
4. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.