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OFFICE OF H. E. KRATZ Supt. City Schools.
Mitchell, Dakota. Feb 13th 1888 Prof. C. E. Bessey Lincoln Neb.
My Dear Sir and Friend
I have learned with pleasure of your increasing reputation as a Botanist and believe you deserve even more than you have received.
I am anxious to secure a Botany which will describe our rich flora of Dakota, We use Grays with Coulter's Manual for Rocky Mountains, but find only a few descriptions which will apply to our flowers. We have a very interesting flora and if no one has described it any nearer than Coulter there is a large field for some Botanist like yourself to occupy.
Can you give me any help towards securing what we want? Have you a Botany that covers this locality any better than Gray-Coulter's? That work is also very expensive. We ought to have a cheaper book.
The old scenes on the farm come back to me as I write, but I can not refer to them now.
Hastily but with kindest regards I am Yours truly H. E. Kratz
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Medical College building Oakland. Cal. Jan, 14, 88.
My dear Prof. Bessey,
Your favor of the 29.th. Dec. came duly to hand, containing your desiderata in grasses.
Because you seemed to desire grasses very much and to make my contributions as large as possible, I resolved to try to accommodate you, so began hunting up the species distributed into 50 bundles and packed away for storage!
We have been compelled to move the herbarium 4 times since [?] from New Orleans, and
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much confusion has resulted thereby.
Then many of the last collections were not worked up, and I knew much labor was necessary before I could determine many of the species. We now are not sure of our rooms and so we do not make permanent repairs, naturally and thus you see, work is slow. I could not go over the list and mark (as you requested) certain species I could furnish, as nearly three years have elapsed since I have had the pleasure of even seeing those interesting plants, - all packed away out of sight. At the risk of disappointing you I have first set to work to hunt up and name up species before reporting. Now after about a fortnight I am able to say that the work is about half done. Many interruptions occur despite all preventives and next week we visit San Jose to attend the deliberations of the Am. Hort. Assn. I fear I shall not always name our species correctly too because Vasey & Scribner are very busy studying & naming one. I have missed many of their late publications. But you have their papers and so can rectify.
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As soon as I can tell just what we have of your desiderata I will return the list following afterward with our labeling and packing off the bundle.
Dr. [Nbellapaugh], just sent for all my Euphardia. We have botanised in S. Cal. during the last season picking up several good new things, too numerous to name.
We often recall certain pleasurable events of the World's fair, notably our acquanitance with the many botanists. Hope to meet several of our old-time friends here as they join the moving throng bound to the lovely shore. We read of your terrible storms and wish you all safely [h ]! Mrs. L. unites with me in sentiments of regard. Yours, J.G. Lemmon