Your mother and Marion went off yesterday, their objective point being the purchase of a pony. I do not know where they are but as it is a rainy day I fear they are not having a good time. Rick will, I suppose be on his way to Liverpool returning to you. I am alone in the house with my nurse. Rick has written me of an instructive interview with the authorities at Kew, the most important occurrence of which is the reassurance gained from them of the soundness of the views of what is desirable in the Biltmore arboretum upon which we have been inclined to proceed. His letter to me is short but seems conclusive on that point, which is a relief to me. He must have observed and obtained in conversation much that will be valuable with reference to matters of detail and also must have gained ground which will be valuable with reference to conferences upon questions which are yet to come up. He had seen Robinson, also, with whom a little discussion was desirable as he is inclined to advise a course varying from that which we have adopted in a somewhat different way from that which Profr Sargent would prefer. His letter is brief, having been written on the train as he was proceeding to Paris but it shows that his observations and his discussions at Kew were of a sort that should be extremely valuable to you—in truth, just what were needed at this juncture of that great enterprise. I am much gratified that the result should have been so far satisfactory. I hope that he has learned much that will be of value to you. In the course of the passage across the Atlantic I questioned him closely about a [962]good many matters at Biltmore and in such a manner as to test pretty well the value of the education which he has been getting there. The result was satisfactory on the whole. It needs, of course, to be supplemented by office training such as you will secure for him but I know of no man anywhere, who, at his age, has a working knowledge of as many first rate operations of our profession. I could not test his knowledge of trees and shrubs but his opportunities have been pretty good so far and when supplemented by industrious study at the Arnold he should soon be a fair master. Better after a little time than you or Eliot or I am, and making you more independent of Manning. I mean that, without much special personal study, for a time, of planting, but enough to keep him in training while growing conversant with all other work, he can fit himself to take Manning’s duty in an emergency, or, if found best at last, to take it wholly, with assistants, of course. Better, I mean of course than you were, very much, when you first became active in the work, more especially in knowledge of plants and horticultural processes of all sorts. He must still be very deficient in regard to hot house and conservatory plants & works, and should have studied opportunities and be required to advance in these respects. Systematic arrangements should be made for the purpose. Here lies the principal deficiency of your office at present and it would be greater if Manning were to leave you. Therefore systematic arrangements for Rick’s continuous education in this direction should be made. It must be for you to think out just what is best. I should think that the root of all must be the Bussey with systematic visits and study of a certain number of establishments, such as Mr Huneywell’s, Mrs Gardeners, Mr Ames’s. I am looking forward to the time, close at hand, when the demand upon you in this direction i. e. in regard to exotics mainly under glass will be much greater and more difficult to meet than it yet is, and when it will be absolutely essential to your standing & reputation that your office should be better qualified & equipped than it is. The extent and, within certain limits, the commonness of the culture of plants under glass, appears to be even greater than I had supposed. Here, I mean, in the warmest part of England, where a much greater range of plants may stand out during the winter than elsewhere; There are two little conservatories opening out of the main rooms of this house; each large eno’ to have a table and chairs in it, as well as shelving &c. Otherwise the place is not treated much otherwise, in principle or method from the pond which we laid out for Mr Coolidge in (West) Brookline. That is to say, there is a lawn all along the best face of the house on the West, divided by a very light, almost invisible, wire fence, from a sheep-pastured small field beyond it, the latter divided by a hedge from fields yet further beyond. And the planting has been made on the same principles as ours, but is not as good as ours, being conventional and cheap in thought, suggesting that it has been done by contract, as is probably the case. Every possible care should be taken to guard against this sort of work becoming common in our country. I mean merely conventional work done by men ignorant of principles and incapable of understanding them. The climate favors much here that is agreeable that we [963]cannot have but the ordinary laying out & planting of gentlemen’s places is in the last degree conventionally “unconventional.” It is the result of attempts of wholly uncultured men to work in the manner of cultured men. Nothing is of as much importance in our profession as to avoid this. To avoid an appearance of an attempt to follow rules or fashions inapplicable to local and personal circumstances. There is hardly a place about here; I have hardly yet seen a place in England, that did not betray evidence of this merely conventional way of laying out grounds. Especially this applies to planting. Our methods of planting (I mean as to design) are better than any I have yet seen practiced here, and yet I am sure that they can be improved, and would be if any of us who could afford time to be as painstaking as wd be desirable. On the whole, the common work here is very poor indeed. It is the larger range of a certain class of resources that we cannot, in our Northern work, employ, that makes it more interesting than such work as we do. Giving it time, & study enough in detail, the planting at Biltmore should be much more interesting, and more a work of real art, than any in England. And under such instruction as I last wrote out for Beadle, as to the revision and improvement of the Approach Road, if this shall be followed up for a few years, I believe that it will be. I urge you not to let those instructions be neglected. Read them over when you visit the place again and see that they are followed and are to be followed up continuously in coming years. After a time you will have a finer piece of work there than any I know. I mean verbal as well as written instructions. I think that Beadle & Manning as well as Rick, understand them, though I don’t feel quite sure of their complete sympathy.

I am going down hill rapidly. I have a nurse who, under general instructions from Dr Rainer, (who has not yet seen me), requires me to walk with him a great deal more than I think desirable, causing a rapid pulse and throbbing. It is an hour now since I came in from a walk with him and the urgency of my pulse, singing in my ears is painful. I think that he is compelling me to greatly overdo voluntary exercise. I am much depressed but try not to show it. I pray God to bless you all.

Your affectionate father.