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Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], Yunnan, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 07 April 1905.
Forrest writes to apologise that he can only muster 105 specimens but promises he will have done better by his return to Talifu next January [1906]. By next mail will send two photographs of plants, one a primula and one a fumaria.
Plants referenced: Fumaria; Primula

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], Yunnan, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 08 April 1905.
Forrest writes that he has despatched a parcel of 105 specimens. He apologises for haste but is joining a caravan of unladen mules which will take him to Tzekou [Cigu]. There is a brief description of a mixture of seeds, collected for him by a Tibetan soldier acting as his servant who ‘returned to camp in the evening with all the seeds he had collected stuck inside his tunic, and a hopeless mixture.’ He encloses two photographs, one of primula, the other of fumaria, with description of their provenance. The photographs are no longer with the letter.
Plants referenced: Acacia; Fumaria; Gentian; Orchid; Primula
The letter has been burnt, with some loss, but not affecting the text.

Letter from George Forrest, The Mission, Tsekou [Cigu], Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, Regius Keeper, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 28 April 1905.
Forrest writes briefly to let Balfour know he has arrived safely in Tsekou after a 'terribly trying' journey during which he rowed with the people at Chien Chuan cho and then lost a mule in crossing the Wei Hsi; baggage carried by coolies (Lisaws) [Lissoos] through deep snow. Forrest reports news of a revolt by lamas who had raided Batang and Atunze, killing three French missionaries and a number of local Christian converts. Forrest found Tsekou to be practically in a state of siege with daily expectation of attack, there being around 3000 lamas at Atunze and 5000 at Batang. Forrest had secured over 100 species on the way but lost many more through damp.
There is slight burning at the base of the letter.

Letter from George Litton, H.M. Consul, Tengyueh, to Isaac Bayley Balfour at RBGE, dated 17 May 1905.
Litton writes that he is sending a case of botanical specimens at the request of Mr Forrest. Litton asks Balfour to forward a small packet of seeds to A.K. Bulley of Ness.
Letter has been scorched with very minor loss.

Transcribed copy of George Litton's, H.M. Consul, Tengyueh, letter to Isaac Bayley Balfour, dated 17 May 1905, alongside the copy of a letter from Isaac Bayley Balfour, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, to A.K. Bulley at Ness, dated 21 June 1905, and written when Balfour sent Litton's letter to Bulley.
Copy has been made by Balfour's assistant Henry Hastings.
Letter has been scorched with some loss, although not of text.

Letter from George Forrest, Tsekou [Cigu], SE Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 27 May 1905.
Forrest writes to say he left Tali [Dali] on 11 April; he provides details of an arduous journey to Tsekou, having his first row with the Chinese in Chien Chuan and an uncomfortable evening conversing with the Yamen. There are difficulties with muleteers at Wei Hsi pass and the loss of a mule which fell 90 or 100 feet, breaking its back and smashing its load of two cases; Forrest was rescued by Lissoos who helped him continue his journey to Wei Hsi Ting. Forrest meets with Pere Bourdonnec of the Catholic Tibetan Mission who warned him that rebel lamas were only three days north of Tsekou. Against his advice Forrest continued to Tsekou, arriving on 28 [April] to news of ‘over 10,000 lamas on the warpath. Of these, 5,000 are at Batang where they have murdered the Chinese amban and a great number of Chinese soldiers. Also the French missionary stationed there, Pere Mussot by name. They destroyed the mission and killed a great number of native Christians, driving the remainder into the hills, where many have perished of exposure and hunger.’ Forrest describes raids on Atuntze, Yarragong and Yerkolo, the death of Pere Soulie and anticipates a battle between the lamas and Chinese troops. Lack of food is the main difficulty in Tsekou; there is a description of the rations, including a curious dish of stewed ferns using the species of common bracken Pteris aquilina:
'One curious dish they have here, and one of which I was very dubious at first, but which now I have got to like immensely is 'stewed ferns'. These are cooked in water with the addition of a little fat. The species used is the common bracken 'Pteris aquilina' which grows abundantly on all the mountains here above a certain elevation. The part used is the young stem and frond just as they are expanding when they are 3-6 inches high. These are boiled for some time in water to extract the bitter principle of the plant and then cooked as I have described. Another dish, but one which I have not yet partaken of, but which I am informed is equally good is composed of the male inflorescence of 'Pinus sylvestris' prepared in a similar manner.'
Forrest is making slow progress with his collecting owing to bad weather, but almost 300 species have already been collected; there are descriptions of forests of rhododendrons and a fine example of Magnolia campbellii.
Plants referenced: Magnolia; Pine; Pteris aquilina; Rhododendron
Letter has been scorched with some loss. Letter has been damaged, particularly page 1, apparently by a plant specimen enclosed in the envelope with the letter.

Letter from Arthur Kilpin Bulley, Ness, Neston, Cheshire, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, RBGE, dated 25 June 1905.
Bulley writes to report that many of Forrest’s seeds and those of Pere Monbeig have germinated already, including ‘a very pretty little Convolvulus in various colours, which surely must be a Chinese Garden Escape, but wh. is to my thinking much prettier than any annual Convolvulus I know of here …’ Though unwilling to interfere in the matter of Forrest and Miss Traill, he has written to Mrs Traill expressing his high opinion of Forrest, continuing that 'A man sh' win his wife by himself' but he would find work for Miss Traill in his nursery if she ‘is being unendurably persecuted ..’ Bulley offers to send Balfour plants for identification and mentions that he is about to visit Cork-Waterford to look for ideal conditions for raising plants.
Plants referenced: Convolvulus; Cypripedium

Copy letter from Isaac Bayley Balfour, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, to Arthur Kilpin Bulley [Ness, Neston, Cheshire] dated 28 June 1905.
'...I should much like to take in hand identifications of the new things you raise. I shall be working up his dried plants and of course anything you may send will be held in trust by us as are the dried specimens from him. He will, I am sure, do great things for you. His last letter to me glowed with enthusiasm in the prospect of his northern migration.
'Mrs Traill is I am afraid rather foolish, and should have learned by now that no other reply than that you have given is possible from those who know Forrest. I do not think Miss Traill is now so unhappy – the subject is become ‘taboo’ at home.” Hopes that Bulley’s kind offer of work for Miss Traill will not be necessary.
‘If you can carry out your proposal, and have all these nurseries controlled from one centre, you will have made a great stride towards securing uniformity in garden names and safeguarding plant lovers from their present tax in buying over again one plant under a variety of names...’
Copy has been made by Balfour's assistant Henry Hastings.
Letter has been scorched with some loss, but not of text.

Letter from George Forrest, Tsekou [Cigu], S.E. Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 03 July 1905.
Forrest writes to thank Balfour for the twenty volumes of the Linnaean Journal and for the seeds for the Consul General at Yunnanfu. Collecting has been hampered by trouble with the lamas and bad weather, but Forrest hopes to make up for lost time and secure twelve or fifteen hundred species. Forrest intends to leave for the U.K. around the end of December, subject to Mr Bulley’s approval: ‘I gather that he wishes me to remain out here for another year or so, but I do not think I shall consent, at least not at the present rate of payment.’ Although Forrest likes the work he would prefer collecting botanical specimens alone, rather than seeds.
The situation with the lamas remains dangerous: ‘Owing to the stupidity of the official who was sent north to Atuntze, the lamas of that place, and Yarragong in Yangtze valley have been allowed to escape and scatter in all directions. They have great influence over the people and as they are inciting them to rebellion we fear much trouble in the near future.’
Forrest describes an orchid growing on cliffs in the valley around Tsekou and two species of rubus, of which he encloses small scraps.
Forrest warns that Pere Monbeig is intending to write to Balfour to see if Balfour will buy specimens from him, reassuring Balfour that he has nothing to do with this.
Plants referenced: Gentian; Orchid; Rubus; Saxifrage
Letter has been scorched and there is slight damage, likely from a plant specimen inserted in the letter.

Letter from the Co-operative Bees Ltd. Nurseries (J.H.), Ness, Neston, Cheshire, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, Edinboro' Botanic Garden, dated 06 July 1905.
Letter accompanying plants sent for identification by 'our collector, G. Forrest', including convolvulus.
Plants referenced: Convolvulus
Letter has been scorched with some loss (though not text)