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GB 235 GWA/1/1-2 - 'Manuscripts of some of Professor Walker Arnott's lectures, chiefly on roots and an 'Interesting historical account of the potato'', 19th century. 1st manuscript, 23 pages, covers the history of the potato and its cultivation and commercial uses, marketing and preparation for consumption. Refers to the first cultivation of the plant in Scotland in Kilsyth in 1728, and then Forfar in 1730. 2nd manuscript, 17 pages, is a continuation of the first and is devoted to many other root vegetables ranging from onions to cassava, heath pea and ginseng etc. GB 235 GWA/2 - manuscript, 55 pages, covering the history of gardens with reference to botanic and research gardens, including a potential plan of the Royal Botanic Society of London, 19th century. GB 235 GWA/3 - Letter from G.A. Walker Arnott to John Forbes Royale regarding the identification of plant species, written on 5th June 1837 from Arlary by Kinross. Letter refers to expectations of producing a book with Prof. Nees v Esenbeck in Germany on Himalayan plants. There is a typed transcript of this letter. GB 235 GWA/4 - Copy of a letter from I. Bayley to Principal Barclay regarding G.A. Walker Arnott's estate/botanical collection post death, written on the 5th November 1868 alongside a copy of a letter from Bayley's son George(?) Bayley to Isaac Bayley Barclay at Glasgow University, 15 December 1880, confirming what happened to Walker Arnott's botanical collection and mahogany cabinet in 1869. Originals filed in Bayley Balfour's correspondence under G Bayley. GB 235 GWA/5 - Copy of the biographical obituary notice of the late Dr. G.A. Walker Arnott (1868) by Dr. Hugh Cleghorn for the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.
•Materials related to his book ‘Flora of Forfarshire’ – 16 page handwritten monograph ‘Catalogue of Mosses Collected in Forfarshire and Perthshire; including 155 species and varieties belonging to 26 genera.’ bound in card cover. Inset at the end is a copy of a letter from Alex. P. Stevenson, stamped 17 Jun 1903, referencing James Donald – Hampton Court Gardens. •Note from W.W. Smith, dated 23 Dec 1931 referring to Gardiner’s own copy of his book ‘Flora of Forfarshire’. The copy was lent by Alexander Hutcheson and is believed to be unique, as having mounted specimens of plants interleaved and named by Gardiner himself. The copy referred to in the note is in the Library of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. •Lent by Alexander Hutcheson – an advertisement for a proposed 2nd edition of “Gardiner’s Flora of Forfarshire”, which was never published. •Letter written by William Gardiner to his wife Elizabeth from Castleton of Braemar, dated 26 July 1844, on one of his botanical excursions; acknowledging receipt of a P.O. money order. •Letter dated 30 Jan 1896 from James Scrymgeour to Alexander Hutcheson re: Wm. Gardiner. •“The Flora Of Forfarshire”, Gardiner, William, London : Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, 1848. (right click, open link in new tab:) http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015061233758
1 letter, dated 8th November 1830, regarding the donation of a chest of dried plants, the herbarium collection of Dr. Francis Buchanan Hamilton, to the University of Edinburgh, a duplicate set having been given to the East India Company, written by William Blacklock, directed by Hamilton's Trustees, to Prof. Robert Graham.
One book, "Popular History of Palms" by Berthold Seeman, 1856; stamped W.H. Smith & Son Library, 186 Strand, with following inscription: "Presented to Mr R.L. Harrow by his associates in the Fernery Department, Kew, on the occasion of his leaving that establishment for Edinburgh. Royal Gardens, Kew, Jany 28 1893". Book is also stamped ex libris Anthony Huxley. Book is in a box alongside, documentation, correspondence relating to Richard Hancock's original query to RBGE in 2002 and his bequest in 2016-7.
• 1 short handwritten narrative regarding the foundation of Hamburg Botanic Garden by Prof. C. Lehmann between 1820 and 1822. There is no author's name or date but it is an expert description of the contents of the Hamburg Botanic Garden.
•Correspondence dated 1893 with J.J. Duthie & 1899 with I.B. Balfour (re: Col. F. Henderson collection) filed with “I. Bayley Balfour” papers under “Hope, C.W.”
Plant labels found by members of the RBGE Horticulture Department and transferred to the Archives: 1: Magnolia acuminata, United States - found to the east of the copse, RBGE; a label intended to hang from the tree, this type of label had the impressed letters painted white by hand, then the entire label was hand painted black - would have been surrounded by a metal holder which has since decomposed - probably dates to around 1940? 2: Ilex laevigata; a temporary label found during excavations for the new Alpine House, 2012 - small label attached to wire which would have been pushed into the ground - probably dates to c.1960? 3: Viburnum dilatatum, c.1960? - temporary label from new Alpine House area. 4: Viburnum farreri - 'layers' - found in Nursery, troughs area - used when 'layering' viburnum - obtaining shoots from roots or branches. 5: Alpinia calcarata 6: Rhododendron hodgsonii 7: LA47
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Horticulture Department