Abbotsbury ^<1> Dorchester
11 Sept 1864

My dear Henry

I am here for a day only & next week shall be for a few days in London.

The Aloe stands his ground manfully against the winds which are now almost equinoctial. The flowers are all over & there is not a branch fit to send you. But there are numbers of fine pods swelling & promising spes tanta nepotum ^<2> that I hope to send you seed. The top, upper branches entirely, & the ends only of the lower ones seem to be the fructiferous parts. there is a pod even on one of the sucker flowers.

Since you were here the chamærops humilis you saw in blossom has set a whole panicle of fruit, which I hope will ripen.

The fine bush of Asparagus acutifolius is so covered with flower it looks quite handsome.

The drought has kept back if not killed many small plants.

The figs are in immense profusion – but no white.

The very sweet small black fig which seldom ripens, has done very well this year –

A pretty little dwarf lilac Tradescantia with woolly leaves flat on the ground flowers very well on the terrace this year. I fear some of the choice ferns I put out are dried up.

I shall be glad to hear what you found at Cotehele. ^<3>

Y^rs Aff
W^m

It is a good season for seeds Pittosporum Mayi – Diospyrus Lotus Indian Pyracanthus – several vines among them Zante currants are all bearing plentifully. Pomegranates & Mandevillia in fine flower

look at the fine venation of P. Mayi

[envelope:]
Henry F. Talbot Esq
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham

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Notes:

1. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.

2. such hope of descendants

3. Cotehele, near Calstock, an Edgcumbe property on the Devon/Cornwall border. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister went to live there after her husband died.