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.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 22 March 1905.
Forrest writes to give details of his disappointing journey south. He never reached Mengtze as Mr Wilkinson preferred Forrest to assist him in laying out ground at the new consulate outside Yunnanfu [Kunming]. Regrets small number of seeds and specimens. Reports that a letter thrown over the mission gate warns of a plot to burn down the mission and murder the missionaries; the attack to take place during the great spring fair on the 15th of the 3rd Chinese moon, i.e. 19th April. ‘Missionaries are going to take no steps in the matter … and say that if anything does take place they forbid me to shoot, but -.’
Plants referenced: Camellia; Rhododendron; Saxifrage
The letter is fire damaged with some loss.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 5 January 1905.
Forrest describes sending Balfour 213 specimens via Cook and Son, Rangoon. He returned to Dali 10 days ago from second trip north. He is unable to go further than Chung Tien as the Atunze [Atuntze, now Tehtsin] pass is blocked by snow. Has taken notes on his journey from Chung Tien down the plateau to the Yangtze, to be incorporated into Mr Litton’s report to the Government. Asks again for names of three saxifrage specimens sent with his letter of 7 September. Leaves for Yunnanfu on Tuesday 10 [January] with Consul General Wilkinson to travel south to Mengtzu. On return, Forrest will go straight to Tsekou [Cigu] and work north and east from there for rest of the year. Mr Bulley wishes him to go into Lolo country which he will do if he can get two reliable Tibetans to act as guide and servant. Intends to work across from Atunze into an area blank on the map, intersected by rivers Yangtze, Li-tang and Ya-lung. ‘The great difficulty of course is the keeping clear of the lamasseries. This is Lolo country and it would …be no use taking Chinese …The hatred between them is intense. I would only be able to manage with Tibetans and these again are entirely under the thumb of the lamas.’
Plants referenced: Rhododendron; Saxifrage
The letter is fire damaged with some loss 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 George Forrest, Tsekou, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 13 July 1905.
Forrest writes to say he is pleased to learn that he has discovered one or two new species. Forrest describes where he collected new species of parnassia. He has just returned from a week in the valleys of the Mekong-Salween divide, with favourable results, although the higher peaks and passes were inaccessible owing to heavy snow. There were a surprising number of species in flower, some forcing their way through the snow. Forrest describes plants and habitats of meconopsis integrifolia, corydalis, rhododendrons, primulas and lilium: ‘If I am not the first to send home seed of this species [meconopsis integrifolia], I hope to be the first to send home photos of it taken in situ…’
Regarding the trouble with the lamas, Forrest states: ‘… we have had bad news this week again. The report is that the Chinese have been defeated once more but I cannot vouch for the truth of this.’ ... ‘I am now well on in my sixth hundred of species over six hundred sheets. Got a big rise last week. Three more species of orchidaceae.’
Forrest describes and sketches a peculiar kind of fern [p.12] and sketches a new primula with pendulous flowers [p.8].
Plants referenced: Aspideum; Fern; Fritillaria; Corydalis; Lilium; Meconopsis; Nephrodium; Orchidaceae; Parnassia; Pine; Primula; Prunus; Rhododendron; Saxifrage
Letter has been fire damaged with some loss, including text. The letter has also been damaged, presumably by a plant specimen inserted in the envelope.

This is a small series of items relating to the section of Rhododendron giganteum - now named Rhododendron protistum found and collected by George Forrest and his collectors in Yunnan, China on the 15th March 1931. The series consists of the specimen itself, and two of its museum labels.
For more information: (right click, open link in new tab) https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/14186