Transcription:
ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Jamaica Plain, Mass, August 4, 1899. My dear Muir: I see by the papers that your
party has been in Oregon. I hope you are with it, but as the despatch says nothing about an epidemic of premature deafness
among the members of the expedition I am afraid they may have left you somewhere behind. Please relieve my anxiety on this
point as soon as possible, and, if this letter reaches you, tell me something of your experiences and of the new sights and
especially of the new trees which you have seen. Please also make all your arrangements to meet me in St. Louis about the
middle of September. I am projecting a great Crataegus-hunting trip and I cannot bear the thought of starting out on this,
my last botanical journey in North America, without your companionship. You need not' be two months from home and I will guarantee
to show you much that you have never seen before and of particular interest. Canby has been rather under the weather this
summer and is talking of the possibility of his not being able to go. I think, however, that when the time comes he will be
with us. At any rate I must have you, so do not plead the importance of staying at home to do literary work which you can
best do in the winter. Summer and autumn are too valuable for the field to waste in blacking paper. I will make a date for
meeting later as soon as I hear that you will be on hand. Whatever you do don't back out. 02603