I am progressing a little with my rather formidable task; in fact I am making haste quite slowly, and am now discussing the mysteries of exogenous and endogenous stems. I have studied little this week, for I found that close confinement was spoiling my health, so I have been taking quite severe exercise almost constantly, by which I am considerably improved already, although my bones ache prodigiously. I have not yet botanized largely. When at Bridgewater I secured all I could find of the new Carex; also C. chordorhiza, which, by the way, Crawe has found in his region. I hope soon to collect more extensively, but in this vicinity there are no plants of especial interest. I have just now a mania for examining and preserving the roots and fruits of our plants (I make notes of everything in a copy of your “Compendium”), and I hope to bring you a collection in this way which will interest, and perhaps be of some use to you. Fruits and ripe seeds are not often to be obtained, at least in a proper state, in our herbaria. I have been examining our Smilax rotundifolia. It is a regular endogenous shrub, although it sometimes dies nearly to the ground, but always sends out a branch from the uppermost node which survives the winter. It branches just as any endogen would, because the terminal bud is killed; the branches are cylindrical, and increase very little in diameter after their production. A cross-section shows the same structure as the rattan, i.e., the vascular and woody bundles are arranged equally throughout the stem. But a great part of the stem is prostrate beneath the surface, and it may be traced back, alive and dead, for several years’ growth. In fact I have not yet succeeded in tracing the stem back to the true root; all I have seen are adventitious roots sent of by the nodes of the stem. This is the only endogenous shrub, I presume, in the Northern States. By the way, the term rhizoma must be used much in descriptive botany, and be extended so as to include all subterranean, nearly horizontal stems, or portions of the stem, which produce roots from any part of their surface and buds from their extremity. It occurs in a great part of herbaceous perennials, and can always in practice be distinguished from the root, although it is still described as root in all the books; witness, Hydrophyllum, Actæa, Caulophyllum, Trillium, Convallaria, and so on to infinity.
I am not yet perfectly satisfied about our Actæas; thus the red-berried one is now perfectly ripe, while the berries of the white one are but half-grown; all the red ones, so far as I have seen, have slender pedicels also, yet the leaves and the rhizomata are exactly alike. By the way, while I was botanizing this afternoon, I met with great quantities of Orchis spectabilis, by far the largest and finest I ever saw; their leaves emulating Habenaria orbiculata. If you care for them in the slightest degree, I will secure a sufficient quantity to fill your garden. O. spectabilis will, while in flower, be a very pretty spectacle....
I remain cordially and truly yours,
A. Gray.
TO HIS FATHER.
New York, September 28, 1835.
I suppose I have been a little negligent in waiting so long before I wrote home, but in truth I did not wish to write until I had something certain to say, and even now I have very little. I met Dr. Hadley in Utica just at dusk on the evening of the day you left me there, so I stayed all night there, and went to Fairfield next day. I stayed at Fairfield until Tuesday afternoon, then went to Little Falls, and arrived in Albany just in time for the evening boat next day, and was in New York at breakfast next morning.
Since my return I have been very busy, and on the whole very comfortably situated. I have got back to my class in the Sunday-school; both teachers and scholars have mostly returned, for they all get scattered during the warm months of the summer; and we are now going on very well. On my arrival here I found a very fine package of dried plants collected by my friend the Rev. John Diell, chaplain for American seamen in the Sandwich Islands. I set about them immediately, and it has taken me nearly all my time this month to study them, but I have now finished them. I shall send my notes about them to Professor Hooker of Glasgow, Scotland, that he may, if he pleases, publish them in the “Journal of Botany,” of which he is the editor. They are of more interest to the people on that side of the water than to us. I have again sat down to writing upon the work in which I have been engaged all summer, and I do not mean that anything else shall tempt me from it until it is finished, although a nice little parcel of weeds from China, sent by S. Wells Williams[30] (son of Wm. Williams), lies at my elbow. As to my book,[31] I am trying to make a bargain with two publishers; the prospects seem pretty fair, and I shall probably get $300, which is the sum I insist on. I shall have a definite answer in a few days. As to my course and occupation for the winter I can say nothing, for I have not hit upon any certain plan. One thing is pretty certain after thinking over the matter quite seriously, and consulting with Dr. Hadley, who is my firm friend in all these matters; I am determined to persevere for a little while yet before I give up all hopes from science as a pursuit for life. I have now, and expect to have, a great many discouragements, but I shall meet them as well as I can, until it shall seem to be my duty to adopt some other profession for my daily bread. I have several plans before me, some of which you would think rather bold; but I have not yet settled upon any of them. As soon as I take any steps at all I will let you know....
I know little of what is going on in the town. I have not been down into the business part of the city over five or six times since I have been here. When Mr. Rogers comes down, if he will let me know where he stops in season, I will see him. I shall write again to some of you in a very short time. Let me hear soon from some of you, and though I have here little time for writing letters, I will give punctual answers. I remain, with love to mother and all the rest,
Very truly yours,
A. Gray.
New York, November 17, 1835.