The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 8/9/71 ¶ ¶ If it pleased Mr Booth, I will send him ¶ several Todeas ¶ this summer (Dec-Febr), dear Dr Hooker, for which he could send me a few things back. I will pay the expenses here, if this exc...

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RBG Kew, Kew correspondence, Australia, Mueller, 1871-81, f. 23. 71.09.08

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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Joseph Hooker, 1871-09-08. 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/1870-9/1871/71-09-08-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

8/9/71

If it pleased Mr Booth, I will send him several s this summer (Dec-Febr), dear Dr Hooker, for which he could send me a few things back. I will pay the expenses here, if this excellent man thinks proper to defray the freight to London & the Agency there and will let me know whether he likes the sending through mess C Blackith & Co, or any other firm. I do not write to Mr Booth, to avoid misunderstandings, as the correspondence sprung up through you.

In a letter that cannot be found, Hooker had told M of the transfer of the large transmitted to London in February 1871 (see M to J. Hooker, 9 February 1871 (in this edition as 71-02-09b)) to John Booth in Hamburg. Booth was very pleased with the specimen, which he received in June, and wrote to Hooker that 'we must put things right in all directions so that Mr. Müller gets what he wants "honour & fame"' (J. Booth to J. Hooker, 26 June 1871 (in this edition as M71-06-26)). Booth was keen to enter into business with M, writing (J. Booth to J. Hooker, 30 July 1871; RBG Kew, Directors' correspondence, vol. 139, f. 58) that 'Mr. M. may quite rely on my dealing liberally with him' and went on to say that if M sent good specimens for the 'Royal school for young gardeners' he would 'without difficulty procure him a higher class of the Prussian order which he has. It will delight him, if he is an amateur in this line. Please write him so.' Booth also arranged for a photograph to be taken of the strongly growing , copies of which he proposed sending to 'André for the Illustration horticole and to Morren for the Belgique horticole as well as to Regel St Peterburg (sic) to blow Müllers trumpet' (J. Booth to J. Hooker, 3 July 1871 (in this edition as M71-07-03)). An article, with an uncoloured woodcut, appeared in Belqique horticole, 1872, vol. 22, pp. 257-9. It contained the statement 'Le spécimen que nous représentons ici, d'après une photographie, est le plus fort qui soit en Europe; il se trouve dans la magnifique jardin d'hiver de notre ami M. John Booth, à Flottbeck, près de Hambourg, qui l'a reçu, comme tous ceux qui ont été introduits, du célèbre botaniste de Melbourne, le commandeur baron Ferdinand von Mueller' [The specimen that we represent here from a photograph is the biggest in Europe; it is in the magnificent winter garden of our friend Mr John Booth at Flottbeck, near Hamburg, who received it, like all those that have been introduced, from the celebrated Melbourne botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller]. The photograph was also mentioned in Wochenschrift des Vereines zur Beförderung des Gartenbaues in den Königlich Preussischen Staaten für Gärtnerei und Pflanzenkunde, 1871, vol. 14, pp. 394 -5, but M was not cited and the was said to be from New Zealand.

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Ferd von Mueller