14 June 1981

Dear Mr Plant,

Your letter of the 4th of June arrived here in Crosswicks two days ago. I was dismayed to hear that you have had such a difficult time over so long a time span in caring for your wife and her problems. I wander if the element Lithium has been used in treating your wife’s illness. It is used quite commonly today to try and stabilize those subject to depression,

I was pleased to hear that the businesses of your son seem to be prospering and hope that they will continue to do so. It was intriguing to read that you are contemplating starting an enterprise at age sixty. That was the time in years when I was most productive and at the height of my earning power. You certainly have at least fifteen years to look forward to become a greet entrepreneur. I wish you luck.

If Australians buy nursery products as Americans do you cannot help but succeed. The only trouble locally has been the several drought years we have experienced which led to water-use restrictions that were difficult for the nurserymen to surmount.

With the help of my son-in-law, we have reviewed your Chapter 22 on the Pekin Bantam. We were amused by your introductory material to the bare standard and admired your clever way of attempting to put the dissenters in an awkward position. The way you wrote the material certainly should diffuse some of the Australian clannishness to the use of British and American Standard materials while getting an important message across to the Judges and some of the old died-in-the-wool breeders. We noted one typing error in the Glossary where the word Cock  was listed twice; the second listing should have been Cockerel. I greatly admire all the effort you have expended to get your materials ready the publishing. I will make certain that I will try to get some publicity for your manuscript in the ABA Quarterly after I have had a chance to read your whole publication. I look forward anxiously to reading it.

I would like to know whether the illustrations your son is preparing for you will be the quality that we can use to accompany the Pekin Bantam Standard   to be used here in the US. I hope that we could obtain those three photographic views of the ideal pair of Australian Pekin so that I can expose the standard In the next yearbook.

Glad to see that you are starting your fall shows as we move into Summer’s heat.

Kindest personal regards.