Transcription:
ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, .Jamaica Plain, Mass., June 15, 1898. My dear Muir: Today I am fortunate in getting
your letters of the 7th and 9th, as well as the staminate flowers of Abies magnifica which, although not fully grown, are
not without value as they show clearly some of the early stages of development. I read with a great deal of pride and pleasure
what you say about the last volume of The Silva. I can only wish that I could find language to properly depict the beauty
and grandeur of form and constitution of many of our trees, but, unlike you, I am not a poet and have to stick to dry and
uninteresting facts displayed in uninteresting language which I cannot believe any one cares to read. You know how to do the
trick and I don't, and that is the difference between us. I am more pleased than I can tell you at the thought of your coming
east this summer and I have at once written to Canby asking him to fix a time for our southern journey. My own idea is that
we ought not to start before the middle of September, as we do not want to encounter too hot weather. I shall want to be governed
a good deal by Canby1s judgment, who knows the country better than I do, and by his ability to leave home which is not as
great as mine. I should like very much to meet you in Duluth and make the trip on the Lakes with you as I have never seen
them, but I fancy I had best stay at home 02432