Document information

Physical location:

Grey papers, GL M50(12), Auckland Public Library. 67.03.01

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to George Grey, 1867-03-01. 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//letters/1860-9/1867/67-03-01-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Melbourne botanic Garden 1/3/67
Herewith, dear Sir George, I beg to offer you a sufficiency of
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seeds for several hundred plants. If raised under glass, potted off and hardened to the air gradually the seedlings might in 1868 be removed to the warm sheltered ferntree gullies of the northern island, where probably also coffee and most certainly tea would prosper. If of the latter plant a case full is acceptable I will gladly send it. The Coccus cacti ova received from your Excellency have til last month been lying dormant except a very few which hatched at the beginning & then almost immediately perished. Now this valuable insect is fully established. I have also through Mr Brady's kindness Bombyx Cynthia. If you desire it and if you have Ailants I will gladly send ova or cocoons.
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Bombyx cynthia (now Samia cynthia ) is a silk moth, feeding on Ailantus glandulosa; the insect Coccus cacti (now Dactylopius coccus) is the source of cochineal.
I remain your Excellency's
deeply regardful
Ferd. Mueller
His Excellency
Sir George Grey, K.C.B.
&c &c &c
Sir Will. Denison, who during his 7 years stay in Madras (& Calcutta) honored me by every mail with a letter, on subjects in which we had a mutual interest,
2
None of these letters have been found.
calculated that four years after sowing from 120 to 140 p.c. profit! would accrue from the 5 Neilgherry
3
Nilgheri Hills, Madras Presidency.
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plantations. I have now many thousand plants ready for the fern-tree ranges of Victoria. I cultivate three species.