Author: David Douglas

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9781332345342

Excerpt from Journal Kept by David Douglas During His Travels in North America, 1823-1827: Together With a Particular Description of Thirty-Three Species of American Oaks and Eighteen Species of Pinus, With Appendices Containing a List of the Plants Introduced by Douglas and an Account of His Death in 1834 Many causes have contributed to the delay which has taken place in the publication of the Diaries of David Douglas's journeys on behalf of the Royal Horticultural Society: - 1. The handwriting is nowhere easy to read, and in places is most difficult, occasionally almost if not quite impossible. 2. In the course of nearly one hundred years the ink has faded and become in places very hard to decipher. 3. After the Diary of his journey in North Western America had been prepared for the press and set up in type, a second manuscript was discovered which was at first sight taken to be a duplicate, but which on closer examination was found to contain a great deal of additional information. It had therefore to be compared word for word with the Diary and the additions inserted in their proper places. 4. All the botanical names mentioned have been very carefully looked up by Mr. H. R. Hutchinson and the name given to the plant in Index Kewensis or by other later authority is quoted at the bottom of the page with a reference to the author responsible for it. 5. Last, but by no means least, the work was entrusted to the Secretary of the Society and to Mr. Hutchinson, the Librarian, each of whom had already more work in hand than he could conveniently compass, and only occasional spare time could be given to a work which had already waited nearly one hundred years for publication before it was committed to their charge. I desire to express my very great indebtedness to Mr. Hutchinson for the extraordinary carefulness with which he has assisted me both in the deciphering of the difficult writing and also in the identification of the plants mentioned, which latter work adds enormously to the value of the publication and to the ease with which it may be consulted by modern Botanists and Horticulturists. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.