Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Can rust in grain be prevented?', Sydney morning herald, 30 March 1865, p. 10 (B65.03.03). This text is quoted in a letter to the Editor by J. Montagu Smith. M’s text is introduced by ‘In a letter I have just received from Dr. Mueller, of the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, on the subject of the disease of the cereal grasses, he mentions’. At the conclusion of the quotation, Smith added ‘There is so much sound sense and enlightened philanthropy in this passage that I offer no apology for repeating it verbatim’.

the desirability of creating a special professorship of agricultural and mineralogical chemistry, in order that the occupant of the office may devote exclusively his time to investigations of our soils, lecturing to the farmers, and affording scientific advice on all subjects connected with agriculture. Such a gentleman should be placed in an easy position, that he may devote his whole time and energy to the subject allotted to his care, and be willing to sacrifice everything else for the purpose, without feeling in later years, that it would have been better to have adopted another plan of life which would have insured him a lasting independence.