Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Foreign correspondence', Gardeners' chronicle, 20 March 1880, p. 366 (B80.03.01). See also M to E. von Regel, July 1880 (in this edition as 80-07-00).

Melbourne: January 1, 1880.

It may interest your readers to learn that an experiment, instituted by one of my assistants, has proved successful. He has been enabled to remove living

Livistona

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Palms from the forests to private gardens in Melbourne, the stems being about a dozen feet high, and very many years old. In accordance with precautions adopted by me in the Melbourne Botanic Garden many years ago when moving trees, the roots of these Palms were covered up at once when the ground around the ball of earth was cut, and the Palms left in their original positions for some months in order to form new roots. The Palms were after that lifted with some earth remaining adherent to the roots, and in that state they travelled well, wrapped up in coarse matting, for a week and more without flagging. Thus a villa here may at once be provided with stately Palms as much as twenty years old, or perhaps of any age, and that at quite an insignificant expense, and with the gain of a generation in time. This example might be tried in other Palm countries, and thus a new branch of horticultural trade might be opened up. Many of the Mexican, Brazilian, and Indian coast Palms might probably be shipped in a similar manner to European conservatories.