Document information

Physical location:

MS papers 37, no. 595, folder 209, Haast family papers, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. 74.11.01a

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Julius von Haast, 1874-11-01 [74.11.01a]. 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/74-11-01a>, accessed September 11, 2025

1/11/74.
Möchte Sie besonders bitten, theuerer Freund, mir die Adresse der Eltern Ihrer Gemahlin anzugeben, da ich der Dame gern während Ihres Hierseins meine Aufwartung machen u meine Achtung bezeugen möchte.
Wie gern hätte ich auch Sie hier gesehen.
Stets mit besten Wünschen Ihr
Ferd. von Mueller
Besten Dank für die schöne Abhandlung! Wie viel mit so wenig Mitteln geleistet
Das N. Z. Gouv. will meine industr. plants abdrucken lassen, worüber ich mich freue.
Aus Tyrol wurde von der 'Arcona' eine Sammlung Samen von Alpen-Pflanzen mitgebracht, welche man in den Alpen des Südens hier auszusäen bittet. Ich werde Ihnen etwas von jeder Art senden, und wenn Sie demnächst in die Alpen gehn, wäre es ja leicht solche einfach zwischen Steinen, an Erde, auf Moos etc etc auszustreuen. Mir wären zur Rücksendung nach der Schweiz Samen von Ihrer Insel lieb, jede Art, besonders aber alpine.
1 November 1874.
I should like to ask you particularly, dear friend, to send me the address of your wife's parents, as I should like to call on the lady during her visit here and pay her my respects.
1
Mary Haast had a severe nervous breakdown following the birth of her fourth son, Julius Hermann Haast, in December 1873 (H. F. von Haast (1948), p. 682 ), and went to stay with her parents in Victoria, where her father, Edward Dobson, was engineer for the construction of the Geelong Waterworks. She arrived in Melbourne aboard Otago on 28 October 1874 (Argus, 29 October 1874, p. 4).
How pleased I should have been to see you here, too!
Always with best wishes
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Many thanks for the beautiful essay!
2
Haast published several papers in 1874; it is not known to which of these M is referring.
How much can be achieved with so little means!
The New Zealand Government will print my 'Industrial plants', which pleases me.
3
M's book was not published in NZ. For discussions about the proposal that it should be, see M to J. Hector, 10 August 1874; G. Cooper to M, 6 October 1874 (in this edition as  74-10-06b); M to G. Cooper, 3 November 1874 and notes thereto; and M to G. Grey, 12 July 1877.
A collection of seeds of alpine plants from Tyrol was brought by the Arcona
4
The German frigate Arcona arrived in Melbourne from Kiel via Williamshaven, Plymouth, Madeira and Rio de Janeiro on 15 March 1874 (Argus, 16 March 1874, p. 4). The donor of the seeds has not been identified, although M's 'special countryman Dr von Wilemoes-Suhm' from Schleswig was on board (see M to G. Bentham, 21 March 1874).
with the request to sow them in the alps in our south here. I am going to send you some of each species, and when next you go the the alps, you can easily sprinkle them simply between rocks, on earth, on moss, etc., etc. I should be pleased to have some seeds from your Island, any species but particularly alpine ones, to send back to Switzerland.