Charles James Sprague – important letter on the early study of fungi in America

Charles James Sprague –
botanist, early American mycologist.  ALS,
Boston, Feb. 16, 1856,  to “Edward” 4 pages
on a folded bifolium  sheet of blue paper
approximately 5 x 8.  Important letter on
the early study of fungi in North America.  
Sprague offers some discouraging advise on finding reference works for
students interested in the still small field of mycology – there are few and the
better ones are difficult to find.  His
suggested lists offer nice insight into the limited range of research and
challenge for new students to get into the field.  That leads to his advice that the field is
wide open for original research on American fungi and the need for more people
to move into the field.  He describes
some of his own work and the collection of 500 new samples in a relatively
short time.
Sprague was an enthusiastic researcher and an avid
collector of samples.  Sprague was not a
professionally trained scientist, nor did he make his living in the field yet
contributed so much to the research that he is considered a pioneer of the
American study of the subject.  Most of
his collection now resides at the Boston Museum of Science, successor
organization to the Boston Society of Natural History, where he served as Botanical
Curator about the time of this letter.
The letter is in generally good condition with remnants
of a mounting strip on the left margin.
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Boston  Feb 16,
1856
My dear Edward,
I shall be glad to get your box of ______   For the last months I have been driven out od
my workroom by the severe cold & have been unable to heat it and you know
that it is impossible to work well without one is personally comfortable.  So I have been reading below stairs and mycology
has suffered at my hands.  I am awaiting
the genial spring to commence operations with a renewed ardors.
With regards to Dr. Woods
request—tell him that there have been two works published on American mycology
both of which are rare to obtain, from there being published in the Transaction
of Scientists.  One is a synopsis of the fungi
of So. Carolina published in the _____ _____. 
Some twenty years ago.  The other
is a Synopsis of the of the fungi of America publishes afterwards in the ___ of
the Amer. Acad. at Philadelphia
Both of these are by  Schweinitz [Lewis David de Schweinitz]  and neither will give the necessary
information to a student.  They are simply
lists of the Genera and species with full descriptions of such as are new.  For this last reason they are valuable.  Messrs Curtis [Moses Ashley Curtis]  of So. Car. And Rev Mr. Berkeley [Miles Joseph
Berkely]  in England are now engaged in a
verification and examination of Schweinitz’s species.  They look forward to a Mycologia Americana
and I sincerely hope they will live to produce this, as they are the only men
now who could do it properly.  Should the
mass of material be left by them to fall into hands of the French mycologists—much
time and probable error would take place in the working up anew.
There is nothing an
American Mycology which can be presented separate from the works on the subject
generally.  Thus collections have been
made in our northern country.  Probably
not one tenth parts of the fungi of New England have been verified or described.  The works which are mot useful on the subject
are
Systemma Mycologicum/Elenchus
Fungorem/ Systemma  Vegetabilium
Scandinaviae/ Epicrisis
All by Fries, [Elias Magnus Fries]  the great father of mycology.  These are all in Latin and contain
descriptions of such species as had been detected in America and communicated
to live previous to their publication. Besides these the Annals des Scienses Naturalles
contain a large amount of interesting and instructive matter on the subject
generally.  Silliman’s Journal has a few
articles on American species and Mr. Lea pf Cincinnati, who dies some time ago
left a manuscript list of species, which he had detected in Ohio.  Once species were examined by Berkely and
described by him they were published in a pamphlet form by his son.  I found one of his new species, Agaricus
Leainus (?)  down in South Paris last
summer.
The fact is that information is wanted on this topic.
Students are wanted -collectors are wanted. 
It happens that the fungi of the world are more cosmopolitan than any
other of the vegetables creation Consequently European species are just as
Common with us as in
Europe.  One point is to verify the fact
of their occurrence  here.  Many of the species which I collected in
Maine proved to be identical with more southern and with European forms &
they were detected there by me for the first time, still they were European
forms.  Others were new to science. In this
state of the subject when the mighty forests of Maine have never been trod by a
mycologist—when all of New England is in fact a terra incognita it is
impossible than any work should be at hand to instruct us about it.  These books are to be written.  The subject so far as our northern country is
concerned is entirely in its infancy. In one single season I have collected
some 500 species in the few leisure hours which I can spend in their
collections.  I hope that I shall more
than double this number before another winter. 
I shall be glad of any assistance from any quarters.
Yours Truly
Charles Sprague