27 Inverleith Row
Edinburgh
11 April 1863
My Dear Sir
I have received the notice of your papers <1> for the meeting of the Royal Society <2> on the 20th. I have much pleasure in inserting them in the Billet. <3>
I am glad that you were pleased with the plants in the Botanic gardens & I hope you will be able to report favourably to the Earl of Ilchester <4>
I shall be glad if I can aid him in his Horticultural work by giving him a small Palm or two If you let me know what the Earl wants <5> I shall try to do something for him
This is a remarkable season – We are nearly a month in advance. I trust that there will be no check to the onward progress of vegetation.
I am yours sincerely
J. H. Balfour
[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot Esq
11 Great Stuart Street
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 08682, to which this is the reply.
2. Royal Society of Edinburgh.
3. The programme or newsletter.
4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
5. See Doc. No: 08682 and Doc. No: 00285.