Ferdinand von Mueller

Bot. Garden, 14/6/70

With some considerable surprise, dear Mr Fitzgibbon, I notice a remark in the Argus of this morning,

1

Argus, 14 June 1870, p. 6. See M to E. FitzGibbon, 7 June 1870 and notes thereto.

emanating from the discussions of the City Council, as if most of the trees (Blue Gum trees) on the Yarra are dead. I saw them very vigorously growing comparatively recently, but have sent this morning a gardener to the Corporation Bank of the River and he reports that 428 (four-hundred and twenty eight trees) are growing nicely (i.e. Blue-Gums , that none are dead but 15 are missing and as far as we can see abstracted.

As regards the price of the Elms much depends on the state of them; they may be had from 2/6 to 9d. In my communication I thought, that the strongest could be had for less than 2/. It will be best to call for tenders and submit the samples to me. The price of 2/ or less would include stakes (8' x 2" x 2") for each tree.