Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Jan 4 /49
Dr Sir
Will you have the kindness to add my name to the list of subscribers to your son’s Rhododendrons <1> which promises to be a most interesting work –
Did it ever occur to you that it would be very desirable to have a garden in the South of Europe <2> supplementary to Kew garden in which a great number of seeds and fruits might be ripened that will not succeed in England, and thus many species might be preserved which we lose in England within a few years from their introduction. Madeira or Nice would be eligible situations for such a garden or if it must be in an English colony, Corfu <3> offers a very fine climate
Yours ever truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) and William Jackson Hooker, The rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya … (London: Reeve, Benham and Reeve, 1849).
2. See Hooker’s reply, Doc. No: 06199.
3. Corfu was a British protectorate between 1815 and 1864.