Dear old Darwin

I wish I could see my way to aiding you in the matter of Scott²   You apprehend the real & only great difficulty in what you say of the position of such a person in relation to the Curator. & with our present Curator, Smith,³ it would be simply impossible— For the coming Smith⁴ I cannot speak, but feel sure that for many months to come the latter could not undertake any responsibility of the kind—having to learn first how to manage his own men— then too Scott must not only be under Smith but be more or less amenable to one of our foremen, who would carry out Smiths instructions in regard to his privileges.

As to my father,⁵ he would assuredly let me do what I pleased, in the firm conviction, that like other abortive schemes of your affectionate friend for the promotion of Scientific Horticulture, the whole thing would break down, directly,—& no harm come of it, if I guaranteed its safety to him. But then I could not guarantee that the Foremen would not take offence or be jealous, & that Scott would give no cause for complaint, either by expecting too much, or by interfering by word or deed where he had no business.— Gardeners are the very d—l, & where two or three are gathered together I would rather not be in the midst of them: it is difficult enough to play your part over them—

If we had, as you suppose, Gardeners at work at Kew without pay, it would be easily managed, but we never had such,⁶ & on the contrary refuse all who will not come & be paid; as it is, the ordinary workers are jealous of those who being better off come for their improvement, though we make no difference in our treatment of them; they are always asking for privileges that cannot be accorded to all—& the Foreman cannot bear amateurs— To cut a long story short I do not believe that Scott would undertake the work you want in such a garden as ours, or in any one indeed where he was not head.—

As to the importance of the points, to be worked out, I do not see how they can be exaggerated— an out of the way piece of ground could be found easily enough I dare say—& I should be proud of its unsightlyness—but I cannot see my way to his position except as my own personal protegee—& coming to me for all he wants, & I should be jolly well hated for my protegées sake. You see he must have tools, seed, plants, & the run of the gardens at all hours, private keys, hot-house accommodation, & his own way with heating, screening, watering & hundreds of details, & consequently be the handle of every jealous mischief-maker: & you might as well order your Lady’s-maid to treat the Governess with consideration, as the foremen to forward Scotts experiments. To give you a sample, we had our “Victoria” plants poisoned 2 years running,⁷ through the jealousy of our gardener, & have every reason to believe that we suffer much this way— Smith says our whole orchid collection was systematically poisoned for several years running—but pray let this go no further.—⁸

I have been 2 days at Isle of Wight & a beastly windy cold place it is, no worse perhaps than the rest of England, but no better— The rocks are paltry, the Trees contemptible, the sea muddy, the villages cockney, & the Geology confused— it is a wretched imitation of Jersey & Guernsey— I spent a day in Portsmouth harbor coming back with Charlie, in a boat with a fine breeze: the great ships are a grand sight & rather warmed me up to the old navy.⁹

I put to Tyndall your question about Glaciers & cold¹⁰—but he could not answer it.— I think you have an answer in the comparison of the outer Himal. ranges at 14–16,000 ft. where you have superabundant snow fall, & glaciers now at 15,000 ft. & the Tibetan ranges behind where with a greater elevation & much lower mean temp: & not half the snow fall the glaciers are much higher.¹¹ I regard fall of winter snow as the greatest element of great glaciers, & when the snow fall is very great you seldom have a very low mean temperature. Frankland is far too ignorant to be trusted to read any thing about the subject in your Journals.¹² I never met such ignorance of the elements of Meteorology & Phys. Geography, in a man who writes on such subjects.

In Sikkim you have huge glaciers down to 15000 ft, because the fall is so great, & the melting is almost wholly due to fog & rain in summer. In N.W. India 6–8° further north the glacier level is the same though there is not half the snow fall, partly because the climate is colder, but far more because there are no Summer rains & all the melting is due to the sun’s power direct. In Tibet, where you have very little fall, & a tremendous hot summer sun by day & cold nights the glacier level is up to 18000 ft.—¹³ In the S. Pole with cool summer & cool but not cold winters but with perennial deposition you have the whole S. Continent from 66–79 caked with glacier, & no land whatsoever uncovered by Snow. ¹⁴ In the N. Pole on the other hand with little fall, tremendous winter cold, & great day heat in summer, no spot has been found at the level of the sea covered with perpetual (non glacial) snow¹⁵—& at Disco¹⁶ the hills are said to be bare of Snow up to 4000 ft I think in summer

The whole problem is extraordinarily complicated. & I still hold with Lyell that a different disposition of sea & land may produce the glacial epoch¹⁷—with judicious wriggling I grant!

Ever my dear & well-bored friend | Yrs affec | J D Hooker