José Ortega is grateful for a letter from Linnaeus [this letter has not come down to us]; it was full of friendliness.
Ortega will continue to venerate Pehr Löfling because of Linnaeus’s recommendation and Löfling’s fine character and learning. Ortega would already like him to be gone to Caracas and from there to Peru together with two physicians and two painters to observe, collect and depict everything that is rare, curious and useful. This would be very useful especially since the Spanish King [Ferdinand VI] has decided to adorn the Botanical Garden of Madrid, a project that José Quer y Martinez, Juan Minuart and Ortega are involved in.
Christobal Velez is a very laudable man. However, he has not written a flora of Madrid. After his death there was just a small collection of plants that Velez’s wife now has in her possession. It is not fit for publication. However, Quer y Martinez has travelled through almost the whole of Spain and is able to compose a more ample flora.
Ortega is very grateful for Ortega hispanica. Ortega promises to see to it that Löfling receives Linnaeus’s letters.
Quer y Martinez and Minuart send their regards.