(seq. 1)

Stephan Elliott {Esquire} Lin Bot Garden
nr New York Sept 29 28
[Dhi?]

Your very kind letter of 23rd July
has this day come again into my hands in
overlooking some files — may I take the
liberty of asking you if you recd my
Desiderata which I afterwards forwarded
to you & may I also ask your aid & influence
towards obtaining some of it's contents —
The Hamiltonia I have long been very
desirous to obtain — so of the Table Moun=
=tain pine Pinus pungens — The family
of the Asclepiadea are anxiously
desired as is the Hypericium family —
The Ceratiola ericodes growing at
St Simons Island I could never obtain
nor seeds of Kalmia hirsuta — but
I refer you to my Desiderata — The fact
is I am from American pride interested
in advancing my estab that it may
proudly [copy?] in comparison with those
of any aristocratic Country — May I then
solicit a few of your leisure hours in
each passing year, to aid a labourer in
that lovely field over which your scientific