The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Melbourne botanic & zoologic Garden. ¶ 1 Nov. 1859. ¶ Sir ¶ ¶ I have the honor of submitting the following monthly report for October 1859 on the proceedings of this department. ¶ ¶ The ordinary gar...

Melbourne botanic & zoologic Garden.

1 Nov. 1859.

Sir

I have the honor of submitting the following monthly report for October 1859 on the proceedings of this department.

The ordinary gardenwork of the season has been proceeded with, consisting mainly in attendance at the 4 nurseries, clearing up the walks and flowerborders, moeing the lawns, trimming all the very extensive chamomile-edges &c. The plants in the palm-house under-went a thorough revision. The willow plantations lately formed inside and outside the gardens at the Yarra Yarra, were attended to, and will anon tend to beautify greatly more the banks of the river particularly towards Prince's bridge. Two collectors in the field

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Augustus Oldfield and John Dallachy.

are engaged to add to our collections of living and dried plants, and as they are labouring in localities, previously as far as Botany is concerned unexplored, we will at the same time gain valuable material for interchange with other similar institutions. For the same purpose the wild native plants of our environs and the rarer Australian plants cultivated have been been dried in great quantities for herbarium-distribution.

The Museum-building, in which the daily increasing scientific collections will soon become accessible to the public, is now under contract. The tenders are also prepared for an additional set of stablings for horses, camels &c, after the erection of which we will be able to remove the very unsightly shades & stables now so conspicuous in the south-eastern part of the Garden.

The iron-aviary bridge, a graceful structure, is now completed; but it is too late to make at this season the requisite transplantations for matching the walks with this bridge.

The propagating house is now also fully completed and will enable us to strike cuttings of many plants with facility & celerity, which we could hardly before multiply. This whole building, which includes a tank for tender waterlilies and other tropical plants,

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See M to J. King, 28 October 1859?

is erected solely out of votes believed necessary for the ordinary keeping of the gardens, but which by economical application have left us the means of providing this useful building.

The tasteful cottage built at the western entrance of the northern ground is now nearly ready, to receive the overseer or foreman.

The last portion of work on the dike between the Yarra and the lagoon is almost completed. Lines for the extension of the iron-fences, under contract, are measured out, and it is hoped that with furnishing these permanent fences and removing the now decaying & very unsightly palings, a great improvement in the appearance of the ground will be effected. The southern lagoon walk, previously subject to inundations, has been raised.

A force-pump has been placed at the lagoon to convey the water to the nurseries, and in connection with the salmon-pond, intended to be placed at the little lake in the northern ground, ordinary pump-works will be established at the Yarra Yarra.

Still great difficulty & loss of time and labor is a[s] yet experienced to provide the requisite water for the extensive plantations on our ridges and in order, that this defect may be remedied to some extent, a transfer of £150 – – was most favorably granted by the Government, to enable me to arrange for the sinking of tanks at the Directors cottage, at the store-house and at the Curators cottage, so that no rain water may be lost on high ground, and this be conveyed by pumps & pipes to the principle plantations there.

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See also M to J. King, 7 November 1859.

A perfect system of water-supply can however only be obtained by expensive machinery or by the later extension of the Yan Yean pipes to our grounds, when the means will be also given to ornament suitable localities with fountains.

With an additional carthorse & cart, at our disposal, within the last days,

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See M to R. Leach, 28 October 1859.

we will be able to carry on less interruptedly the formation of the walks through the reserves, as it was possible with the single very old horse we had before only at our service.

To the labels, which have of late so extensively served, to convey botanical information to visitors, many additions were made this month & there are now nearly 2000 iron-ones printed in oil-color, distributed over the ground.

With a new and better screening of the roof of the palm house a commencement has been made.

Some more seats for visitors are under work.

All the buildings stand in great need of painting, but as no vote at the public works department is left available for the purpose, this very necessary work must be postponed til the beginning of next year.

That portion of my work on the indigenous plants, referring to and , has passed through the press & finishes about the first half of the first volume. Lithographic-plates for its illustration I have also been additionally furnished, advancing their whole number to now nearly thirty.

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B62.02.01.

Some beautiful parasitical orchids of Moreton Bay, sent within the month by Walt. Hill Esq of Brisbane in life-state to the gardens, have been the subject also of botanical examination & have added five entirely new species of this lovely tribe of plants to science & horticulture.

As usual we have supplied on various occasions the cut-flowers & green bows for decoration at public festivals, for church or school celebrations, or for artistic purposes. To Sir Will. Hooker, the venerable Director of the Royal Gardens of Kew a case with plants, seeds & botanical publications was forwarded pr "Agincourt" under care of the honor. David Moore. The botanic gardens of Madras and Buitenzorg received respectively one case of living plants under care of Capt Russell, Commander of the "Grecian Queen". To the botanic Garden of Copenhagen 500 dried botanical specimens for interchange were shipped pr "Sussex". A Wardian Case with living Australian plants went pr "Camilla" to Mr W. Murray, an horticulturist of note at San Francisco. It will be unnecessary to enumerate all the minor interchanges effected during the month, but it may be worthy of record, that now at the end of the season we find this year by our books nearly 50,000 papers of seeds and 15,000 plants distributed either in reciprocation for what we received, or in supply of public institutions of the colony, or in a trial to extend advantageously our botanical intercourse. These extensive communications, from which we have been reaping already some advantage, has, as may be imagined entailed a very heavy correspondence, which however is not limited to this branch of the service, since almost daily applications from distant part of the colonies and even from abroad are made to this office, as the sole one open for such enquiries, for information on the Austral. plants.

Except minor contributions we received during the month from Dr. J. Hooker of Kew dried plants from Asia minor, from Professor Asa Gray M.D. of Boston dried Georgian plants, from Dr Milligan of Hobarton dried Tasmanian plants, from W. Murray Esq. of San Francisco a case with Californian Pine cones. The consignments of seeds from Germany, Holland & Russia to this garden is announced; the despatch also of living plants from the Sandwich islands.

The reference to the increase of the Menagerie I had already the honor to report the arrival of a fine pure Alpaca-ram for our Llama-Alpaca flock from the New South Wales Government as a loan,

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See M to J. O'Shanassy, 25 October 1859.

a disinterested compliance with a request from this Office not sufficiently to be appreciated, as without improvement in the fleeces of the animals which we possess, they would not be of mercantile value. The animal arrived in good health under the guardianship of Mr Cabrera, Mr Ledgars principle overseer.

A lyre-bird, the first one ever brought alive to Melbourne and perfectly tame, but not quite grown, was secured for our aviary by Hugh Frazer Esq. of Welshpool on the desire of Mr Ligar. — Mr Th. Riley of Sandridge contributed a black Albatross, Mr Coppin, M.L.C., a black swan, Mr Craigg 2 beautiful white swans, which arrived per "Copenhagen", and are a great ornament to the northern lagoon & likely to breed. Dr Sewell made a donation of an Eagle, 2 native & 1 Californian Quail; a whole family of native bears, for which a special cage has been built, a flying Opossum & a few other animals have been added to the menagerie.

The highly valuable Angora-Goats, which promise to become an important addition to our herds hereafter in such localities, where neither cattle nor horses will live, have proved themselves quite as prolific as common goats.

Before finishing my remarks on the menagerie, I would beg leave to bring under the favorable notice of the Government, how desirable it would be, to allow the use of the reserve between the botanic Garden and Princes bridge as pasture-run for the Camels, which the special emissary will ship from India in December or January next. As the license of this piece of ground will have expired at the end of the year, I would beg leave to solicit, that it should not be renewed, as otherwise an expenditure, equivalent to the revenue arising from the letting of the paddock, will be incurred to provide for forage of the Camels.

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Paragraph marked by double lines in margin and annotated: '?apply to Lands Dep.'

An application has been made to Mr Commissioner Tyers for permission, that of the western ridge about 2 acres may be added to the gardens, in order to match our new reserve-walkes with those laid out through the garden. Should this request be granted, the additional piece of ground could at any time be separated again from the garden, if required by the Government for other purposes, whilst meanwhile the advantage would acrue of having it planted with ornamental shrubberies.

The garden, at this gay flower-season, attracted visitors in great number. At the principle gates of the southern grounds entered during the four Sundays of October 21,895 visitors, several thousand arriving by the smaller gates not counted. The northern ground was during Sundays of October visited by 8312 people.

The Caledonian Society held their national games on our grounds, and the band of the 40. Regiment performed a concert, the first of the season being in aid of the lying in hospital.

Some communications have been received by the Government Botanist from their Excellencies Sir Will. Denison and Sir Rich. Macdonnell, expressive of a desire, that I should share, with Mr Geo. Bentham, the celebrated London Botanist, in the literary (and I need not say gratuitous) labours of publishing an universal work on the Australian flora, for which the Governments of New South Wales and South Australia as well as of our colony have placed sums on the estimates, and in the publication of which a large expenditure is likely to be born by Her Majestys Home Government.

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Paragraph marked by double lines in margin. See also notes to M to W. Hooker, 15 June 1859.

Being since the year 1847 engaged in Australia in studying the indigenous vegetation, I am perfectly prepared to respond to the honorable call, as far as it can be done without neglect to my other duties.

But I feel it my duty to inform your Honor, that this proposed labour could be greatly facilitated, if I could in addition to my own since the last 20 years accumulated collections (now all property of the Government) secure the great Sonderian Herbarium, which is the richest of all private botanical collections in existence. In a letter, which I had lately the honor of adressing on this subject to Mr Undersecretary Moore,

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Letter not found.

I pointed out, that such acquisition, altho' in first instance a costly one, would save the expense of time & money in accumulating gradually such herbarium, whilst the possession of such is after all needful, if we wish not merely to keep pace with the progress of science elsewhere, but intend to share in its advancement.

The possession of the herbarium alluded to would render us here, myself & my successors, independent of those few European botanical Museums, where at present alone monographic labours can be successfully executed.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

your most obedient and humblest servant

Ferd. Mueller.

M.D. & Ph.D.

Gov. Botanist of Victoria & Director of the bot. & zoolog. Garden of Melbourne

The honorable the Chief Secretary

&c&c&c

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MS file annotation, 3 November 1859: 'see marked paragraphs'.

On 8 November 1859 the Under Secretary, J. Moore, directed: 'Ask Commissioner of Crown Lands to reserve the Land asked for by Dr Mueller as pasture ground for the Camels'.

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Ferdinand von Mueller

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