Document information

Physical location:

RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1858-70, ff. 217-19. 66.06.26

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1866-06-26. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id/66-06-26>, accessed April 20, 2025

1
MS annotation by Hooker 'Answd [S]e[p]t -3rd'. Letter not found.
26/6/66.
Dear Dr Hooker.
This day I unpacked the case, you kindly sent by the Yorkshire. The dry plants came safely back & for the books I feel much indebted.
2
M also thanked Bentham for these books (M to G. Bentham, 26 June 1866 (in this edition as 66-06-26)), but Bentham denied having donated them (G. Bentham to M, 25 September 1866).
I will send those, which the library of this establishment already possesses, to Mr Hill, as you direct.
3
No letter to Walter Hill covering a consignment of books to the Botanic Garden in Brisbane has been found.
I can well understand it & sympathize from sad experience with you when you renovate your garden personal.
4
personnel?
Of the difficulty & anoyance arising from persons dismissed here you have in England no conception & of the cruel prosecution
5
persecution?
to which I am subjected by one part of the press you have also no conception in Britain. Even Mr Veitch's letter in Gard. Chronicle gave them an opportunity of writing a most damaging leading article against the department.
6
Gardeners' chronicle, 7 April 1866, p. 316. Although the general tone of Veitch's account of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens is positive, the following passage may have been seen, out of context, as damaging: 'The Melbourne Botanic Gardens ... [are] ... under the directorship of Dr Mueller, the celebrated botanist, so well known in Europe in connection with the flora of Australia. The Melbourne Botanic Gardens, like almost everything else [in Melbourne] are in a state of formation; no portion of them can be said to be finished or in order. From this cause they do not present an attractive appearance, and contrast but poorly with those of Sydney.' The article to which M refers has not been identified.
My sacrifices in years & financial means have been very great to raise this establishment as the next to Kew (as a whole) under the British Crown & yet I meet such disgratitude in some directions.
I am certain, the horticultural branches of our departments could be rendered much more useful to each other than they have hitherto been. The colonial Office, I see, has kindly taken care of your packages & this encourages me so far in anticipating regular exchanges, that I have arranged for a repository in my office where from month to month such of seeds as may be useful for Kew shall be stored up. Many of my empty Wardian Cases must be still at Kew. I will undertake to refill any sent to me.
Since I wrote my last report,
7
The ‘Report’ to which M here refers is probably B65.10.01, which contained a detailed map of the Gardens, although that map included islands in the lake. It is less likely that it would be the following report, which was never published (see M to J. McCulloch, 17 April 1866; M to J. McCulloch, 2 June 1866; and M to J. Hooker, 24 May 1866 (in this edition as 66-05-24b)).
the whole lake scenery has been changed. I threw up four islands & a large embankment, & if you can help me by sending me a case of Bambusaceous plants , I shall soon be able to grace the whole margins with these noble reeds. I have
Arundo Donax

Search for Arundo Donax in

. I have only B. Arundinacea & that stands the night frosts, if well established first in a conservatory & trusted out in the spring as a strong plant.
Fortunately I have raised
Papyrus

Search for Papyrus in

from seeds. Any other Lake plant would be welcome. Could not
Butomus

Search for Butomus in

,
Sagittaria

Search for Sagittaria in

,
Menyanthes

Search for Menyanthes in

,
Stratiotes

Search for Stratiotes in

,
Hottonia

Search for Hottonia in

&c be raised from seed? When the earthwork on the Lake shall have been completed I will send photograms.
8
Such photographs have not been found. Almond (1996) includes some illustrations from this period.
More
Orchideae

Search for Orchideae in

will be preserved for you this season. Have you a large collection of Willows in Kew garden? We had some frost here last week stronger than ever & now I am preparing a list of the plants that suffered for my annual report. But in as much as Parliament will not meet before November, if even then, this document will not be printed before that time I have now about 400 Cinchona plants under glass, & thousands of teaplants for the Ranges. Mr Hill
9
Walter Hill.
received the seeds for his teaplantation 6 years ago from me. I hope the British Government will generously acknowledge to the son the enormous sacrifices your great father did incur to raise the noble collections of dry plants & the fine library of Kew.
10
The British Government eventually paid £7,000 to Joseph Hooker for his father's herbarium and library; see Allan (1967), pp. 216-7.
Though I am a good deal younger than yourself I even have severely felt already what it involves to establish institutions for botanical science. Had I continued an explorer & occupied as a squatter all the new country within my reach since 1847 I certainly might have accumulated hundred thousand £ & see! how useful could I then have been to science, how independent to aid all, that is great & good! Is it asking too much to favor me with a brief abstract of the average expenditure at Kew Garden & Museum? It may be useful for me here for support. That the British Museum cost about £100,000 annually is seen in various records, but I can find no information about Kew.
I shall send you soon a little Cyperus new to the flora of New Zealand. The seeds of
Dracaena Draco

Search for Dracaena Draco in

I received with great thanks.
11
See M to W. Hooker, 25 August 1860 (in this edition as 60-08-25a), and M to J. Hooker, May 1866 (in this edition as 66-05-00e).
I am just planting half a thousand palmlike
Cordyline

Search for Cordyline in

s & half a thousand true palms on the slopes facing the Yarra in view of the city & transferred about 100 ferntrees! some 20' high to a reclaimed piece of land within a sheltered shrubbery. How can the
Manihot

Search for Manihot in

be best brought to Australia?
You will see the
Alsophila Rebeccae

Search for Alsophila Rebeccae in

has no hemiteloid involucre. I am so glad, that your vigorous & intelligent practical Curator, Mr Smith, will help me here in so spirited a manner. I will gladly reciprocate. I am very sad to hear that poor Harvey is so unwell. He overworked himself & did not sufficiently mix outdoor exercise & duties with indoor studies.
You have really electrified me with the promise of all the good things to come.
12
Presumably in a missing letter.
I have no private purpose to serve. I have no family & did I die to morrow I would have no heirs to derive any benefit from my past exertions. In sending any thing to my department you serve solely the interest of Victoria. The 5 vol. of the fragmenta will be concluded before the end of the year. On the somewhat saline banks of my lake
Glaux maritima

Search for Glaux maritima in

would grow. So seeds would be most acceptable. I will send turfs of
Selliera radicans

Search for Selliera radicans in

& of the
Mesembryanthemum

Search for Mesembryanthemum in

. — Of the
Xanthorrhoea minor

Search for Xanthorrhoea minor in

I can send a large lot if you desire it.
The "genera plantarum" will be a noble monument of your & Mr Benthams unique knowledge & activity.
13
Bentham & Hooker (1862-83).
If you finally furnish a supplement volume, there will be a work for ever , because not many true genera will be discovered afterwards, unless in tropical Africa.
Your always regardfully attached
Ferd. Mueller