FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

People can’t believe that I am over 40 & they claim that I am only 25: thus you can judge
how healthy I look. For the rest, the climate is really delightful at this season—in the six
weeks I have been here there have not been three bad days in succession, and the good
weather lasts for weeks without a break. You can compare it to a good month of June in
England or even in our France… People wear trousers of nankeen [Chinese cotton
cloth], dimity [a lightweight sheer cotton fabric] or even linen. In the evening they sit on
at their doors on the streets, the stylish people on their balconies; the moon shines in a
cloudless sky, without fogs; there is no evening mist to fear. Violets have an exquisite
aroma all winter. We have been eating asparagus for two weeks, & if we wanted to take
the trouble to raise gardens we would have peas and strawberries right now.
I strongly urge you to bring a large quantity of all kinds of seeds, including legumes,
garden plants, flowers & shrubs & even tall trees, as well as onions and roots – all the
plants they raise in hothouses would grow very well here outdoors. <strong>The</strong> geraniums
would last all year, as well as the China rose bushes, rose-colored and poppy-red such as
we had at the Assembly House near the door & the window in the parlor. You should
[also bring] [in English] crocus, snowdrops [end English], all kinds of iris, Jacobea and
Guernsey Lilly, tuberose, jonquils, etc., also chestnuts, nuts, fresh almonds, even Indian
chestnut—seeds of Meleza (larch tree), service tree (mountain ash) – all of those would
produce flowers or berries – seeds of Siberia Crabs [this last phrase in English], etc., etc.,
etc. You could bring cuttings from trees, shrubs and rare plants which do not propagate
by seeds—<strong>The</strong> nurserymen have a way of packing these cuttings in such a way that they
can be sent overseas without spoiling.
I would also like to have seeds of Luzerne, grands pimpernelle (Burnet Grass), & sainfoin
[a type of forage], 1 or 2 boisseaux 21 of each – they have nothing at all in this land, they
do not even know the bushes they call in England “American Shrubs” – I do not doubt
that when, in a garden, they had flowers and fruit or ornamental shrubs [here] such as
they have in England, people sold the seeds or just threw them away. Anyway, a nursery
would be a very good speculation here & would need only a small expense to start.
About the fresh almonds, you could get some from the almond trees they have in England
as ornaments [ornamental trees?]. Is a ship is coming right here, send me all you can of
these seeds, cuttings, etc., & then afterwards bring another assortment yourself, whether
you come straight here or go to New York. Bring also a few of those fine Spanish onions
for planting and to keep for seeds—they only have nasty, crummy little onions here.
Give Laura a little scolding for not writing to me by the same packet boat as you did. As
for the affair about her uncle, judging by the turn which the other affairs have taken in
this land, he is very fortunate that she did not consent. <strong>The</strong> poor fellow must be crazy to
want to get married without a penny of which he is certain. With great impatience,
besides, I am waiting to know what the amiable M. Cheriot has planned for him, & how
he is doing in England, as well as Peter. 22
21
Am on-line translation service translates this as “bushel,” while a note in the earlier transcription
indicates that this means “12 ½ liters.”
22
It is not entirely clear who the “poor fellow” is. Since he is apparently the uncle of Laura, and is not
Peter (Pierre), then it is most likely Joseph Marie de Segrais, the brother-in-law of the writer, Jean-Baptiste
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