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rhododendron
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Incomplete letter from George Forrest to Clementina Traill [October 1904]

[Incomplete, pages numbered 9-50] Sending home seeds, some of which were immature when gathered and may not germinate; regrets all photographs spoiled by damp. Left Tali [Dali] on 29 August and lists most important places on his route. Description of road north of Tali and huge burial ground between road and mountains; burial customs and sketches (2) of sepulchre; flimsy graves fall to pieces and bodies are devoured by dogs. Corrupt system of ‘squeezing’ whereby government officials who collect taxes impose large sums, only a small proportion of which reach the treasury; a row over this practice had brought Mr Litton north to the annual horse fair at Sung Kwei [Songgui?]; unsuccessful attempt to delay them from reaching Sung Kwei by thieves who stole Forrest’s pony and two mules; capture and punishment of thief; number of animals at horse fair far in excess of that disclosed by local officials. Journey north into Hoching Valley, Lichiang [Lijiang] Valley, Lashi Valley and Yangtse Valley; first sight of Yangtse river; description of ferry crossing. From Mu Pi Wan three days were spent going up the right bank of the Yangtse, noting time, distances, character of people and country, number of villages and direction, as they were the first Europeans to travel there. ‘I felt quite like an explorer.’ From Ki ho Wan ascended into hills by tremendous gorge and pass reaching 15,000 feet; three miles of level boggy ground about one mile broad and enclosed with pine wood and bare peaks still higher than the pass. ‘Here I got my first seeds for Bulley and specs [specimens] for Ikey [Isaac Bayley Balfour].’ Descended to Chung Tien plateau, noting plants, including a species of carduus growing abundantly in very swampy ground. Arrival at village of Hsia Chung Tien in Tibet where they stayed at the head man’s house, attracting people from miles around; lack of privacy; description of head man’s appearance, Litton’s fever, game shooting, first sight of a lamasery. Continued NW to Tang Tui, Chiao Ton and Yangtse river, crossing by ferry to Pang Tzu La then NE towards the Kari pass. Descended into Shupa valley, then SE to She Zo and Hsia Zo and over the dividing range of the Yangtse and Mekong basins; reached summit at elevation of nearly 16,000 feet. Descended to Mekong valley and town of Yeh Chih [Yezhi]. Travelled north along the right bank of the Mekong towards Ba Ti; description of road ‘bracketed’ into sides of cliff as it ran through gorges with perpendicular cliffs; detailed description of rope and sling method of crossing river (2 sketches). Arrival at Tzekou [Cigu] Mission to warm reception from the French Fathers who ‘have a large number of converts and practically rule over a territory almost as large as Scotland. They take in all the land between the Salween and Mekong for nearly 100 miles north and south from the station. V. anxious for the British to take over their territory.’ Mission had been attacked 18 months previously by tribe from other side of the Salween, thought to have been encouraged by the Chinese. Much information on local flowers provided by the Fathers who had been collecting for the Paris Herbarium. Forrest keen to collect from range behind Tzekou and obtain seeds for Bulley. Refers to a specially fine species of lily, five feet high with long, white, highly perfumed red spotted flowers. Continued from Tzekou to Yeh Chih and south down the Mekong valley to Ta Chiao and a small mission, a branch of the Tzekou Mission, then on down the Mekong and SE up the valley of the Wei Hsi river to the town of Wei Hsi [Weixi]. Before crossing the range to the Yangtse officials offered them soldiers for protection against a very wild tribe of Lissoo who use crossbows and poisoned arrows. ‘… the Chinese are awfully scared of them.’ Reached summit of 14,000 feet then crossed a plateau covered in gentians; descended to Lu Tien and banks of Yangtse near Chu Tien, south to Tzu Ko and Shih Ku, into Mekong basin, Shiu-ho, Chien Chuan, Niu Kai, Teng Chuan valley, Teng Chuan Ho to Tali. Proposes to remain there till 8 November then go off for six weeks, then back to Tali, then down to Yunnan fu, back to Tali again and then up to Tzekou.
Plants referenced include Azalea (pp.29, 37,44); Barley (p.29); Buckwheat (p.29); Carduus (p.29); Clematis (p.35); Fritillary (p.28); Gentian (pp.27-29,44, 47); Lily (p.44); Orchid (p.11); Pine (pp.27, 28, 36); Polygonum (p.29); Primula (pp.27-28, 37, 44-45); Rhododendron (pp.29, 37, 44); Saxifrage (pp.27-29)

Forrest, George

letter dated 26/07/1919 from Farrer, Hpimaw Fort, to Ernest Gye

Writing to "Sweet Poison" [Ernest Gye] as resting after a ten days' trek searching for a hypothetical Rhododendron during which it rained relentlessly. Feels rudderless and needing the anchor of wedlock then swings away from this idea. Fed up with some Captain staying with Jumps [Euan H.M. Cox] and him who talks endlessly -Farrer states his ages makes him less tolerant, loses patience and ridicules him for being five-foot-nothing. Soon to go down to Htawgaw then a month's camping in a high-alpine valley which he hopes will be profitable and amusing. Complains of lack of art, architecture and antiquity in this country. Writes of the beauty of Nomocharis pardanthina, like a pink lily with a spotted Odontoglossum all over the alpine meadows, asks Ernest Gye to experiment with its seed.

Farrer, Reginald John

letter dated 04/09/1919 from Farrer, Hpimaw Fort, to Ernest Gye

Living in the Fort, having spent a month of really wonderful camp-life in a high alpine valley. Had good weather there and had collected 45 Rhododendrons and will return in October to collect their seeds. Bought a horse, Ma in Chinese, which has got fat and will only carry him, the Master. States how Jumps [Euan H.M. Cox] is highly companionable, shall miss him when he leaves, but looks forward to the Scottish Derrick joining him in the winter. Jumps writing a novel. Recounts scenes of the coolies from the alpine village doing their folk-dances & songs by the camp-fire - views them as the real thing, real art. The Cook has another drunken bout, and R. Farrer administered justice on the verandah, docking some of his wages, the rupees were thrown away and he, R. Farrer almost collapsed in tears. Speaks of letters from home in the aftermath of the War being sad and glad he had decided wisely to get away. Hopes E. Gye will get away, suggests Peking 1921 to attain care-free-ness. Requests him to supervise Mr Bain to send out useful books, seeks two sets of Winchester Edition of the Divine One, for himself and Jumps.
Camp was in a high-alpine valley, in a beautiful open glade, filled with golden Anemones, beside a babbling beck, with gaunt hungry-looking granite peaks aspiring overhead all round. Derrick [Milner] he describes as 10 feet high, and you want a flight of steps to see his large rosy face! From the batches of letters, he gets a uniform impression of utter failure, of fatigue so acute that it can't fine rest, of disappointment, old age, & general failure.

Farrer, Reginald John

Incomplete letter from George Forrest to Clementina Traill [November 1904]

[Incomplete, pages numbered 5-22] Left Tali [Dali] on 14th [November] to go to Lichiang [Lijiang] and from there up to the top of the great Yangtse bend to work the base of the glacier. Collected many seeds in Lichiang valley and describes an especially curious plant which may be new. On 28th November set out for Chung Tien via A Hsi. Gives detailed description of Tibetan house and wonders how the inhabitants of the plateau survive in winter; as there is nothing to take them outside they ‘simply sit and snooze and smoke themselves over their pine and yak dung fires.’ Describes shooting his first wolf and a shooting competition with a local Tibetan chief; intensity of cold; arrival at Chong Ku. Promises to send Clem a set of half a dozen Chinese tea cups. Plants mentioned: Allium (p.9); Azalea (pp.8-9, 15); Bamboo (p.17); Corn (p.10); Gentian (pp.7, 9, 15); Geranium (p.15); Lily (p.12); Lychnis (p.9); Paeonia (p.9); Pine (pp.6, 8, 10, 17); Primula (p.15); Rhododendron (pp.7-9, 15); Saxifrage (pp.9-10, 15); Senecio (p.10)

Forrest, George

Cowan, John MacQueen (1892-1960)

5 maps: Baghdad, Resht, Teheran, Tabriz and India and the adjacent countries.
1 box of personal and miscellaneous papers

  • includes paper on 'A Survey of the Anatomy of the Rhododendron Leaf in relation to the Taxonomy of the Genus' by S.F. Hayes, J. Keenan and J.M. Cowan : for publication in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 21 (1), 1–34.
  • 'The Rhododendrons of India' by J.M. Cowan

Cowan, John MacQueen

Forrest family donation

  • GB 235 FIA
  • Collection
  • 1886 - 1960

A collection of items relating to George Forrest and his family comprising:
GB 235 FIA/1/1: ‘Rhododendrons and the Various Hybrids’, by J.G. Millais, 1917, No.6, signed by author and annotated by George Forrest
GB 235 FIA/1/2: ‘Rhododendrons and the Various Hybrids’, 2nd Series, by J.G. Millais, 1924, No.5

GB 235 FIA/2/1-7: 7 x ‘Marine Algae of Joppa’ by George William Traill, 1886 (inc. author’s copy(1), Phebe M. Traill(2), W.H. Traill(3), scored out name(4) and 3 unsigned books(5-7, 5 possibly Clementina Traill))
GB 235 FIA/2/8: 1 x ‘Marine Algae of Elie’, by George William Traill, reprint from the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Scotland, 1888
GB 235 FIA/2/9: 1 x ‘Marine Algae of the Orkney Islands’ by George William Traill, 1890, H.C.M.W. (Clementina) Traill’s copy

GB 235 FIA/3: 1 box of 87 microscope slides, mostly trees and shrubs, made by Dr G. Ian Forrest (G. Forrest’s grandson) between 1959 and 1960 whilst studying for his B.Sc in Botany at University College London.

Traill, George William

F.R.S. Balfour Collection

  • GB 235 FRS
  • Collection
  • 1920 - 1946

Papers relating to Colonel F.R.S. Balfour of Dawyck, including Correspondence, papers relating to the Rhododendron Conference due to be held in 1939, and papers related to the Landowners' Co-operative Forestry Society Ltd.

Balfour, Colonel Frederick Robert Stephen

Glenarn Garden, Rhu, Dumbartonshire

  • GB 235 GGN
  • File
  • 1922 - 1984

Glenarn Garden, Rhu, Dumbartonshire
Owned by the Gibson family between 1922 and 1984, archive consists of:
• Early Plant Book – 1
• Rhododendron Book (Bible / Stud Book)
• List of Abbreviations relating to above two books
• Letter from Jim Gibson to David Ingram dated 24/01/1994 regarding donation of above and history of the Garden.

  • letter between F.R.S. Balfour of Dawyck and Archie Gibson, 09/08/1939 relating to Sawyers of Inverewe, silver pheasants, and some informatin on rhododendron - falconeri on the Isle of Man reputedly planted pre-1847 (pre-Hooker) - was it sent by Colonel Sykes c. 1830?
  • communication between John Patrick of the Rhododendron Venture and Archie Gibson in 1972 regarding plants from Taiwan and the Rhododendron Venture report of 1971. Both this and the FRS Balfour letter above were donated to RBGE in 1999 by Jim Gibson.

Glenarn Garden

James Todd Johnstone collection (Librarian, RBGE, 1912-46)

  • GB 235 JJT
  • Collection
  • 1923 - 1973

• GB 235 JJT/1: Index to Botanical References & Publications – Foolscap Book “Army Book 72”: alphabetical indexed ledger, ms. entries and ms. and typescript loose sheets (includes ms. notes to RK, William Wright Smith, on botanical references, and typescript note from W. W. Smith, 1931–1937,) 1927. Index includes lists of bibliographic references to monographs and scholarly journals, with 6 pp. listing County Reports of Scotland (1794 to 1814) and England (1794 to 1815).
• GB 235 JJT/2: “Index to Rhododendrons & Primulas”: alphabetical indexed ledger, ms. entries and ms. and typescript loose sheets (includes misc. plant notes, typescript List of Works on Primulas, and ms. list of rhododendrons), 1923.
• GB 235 JJT/3: “Index to Scottish Botanists” in “The Portland Letter File”: alphabetical indexed ledger, with ms. loose sheets, Note inserted in file: “It is quite possible that this was compiled by Mr J T Johnstone, RBG Librarian. DMH [Douglas Henderson], 1973.”

Above material, apparently prepared and used as personal reference source by J. T. Johnston, Librarian of RBGE 1912-46 and are filed under “Johnston, J.T. (Librarian)” – in individual box

Johnstone, James Todd

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