Ferdinand von Mueller

Melbourne

28/5/84.

To Alex. Stewart Esqr

Acting Secretary of the trustees of the public Library &c.

Sir.

In reply to your letter of yesterday

1

See A. Stewart to M, 27 May 1884 (in this edition as 84-05-27b).

I have the honor to advise, that the seeds of the Esparto-Grass, so thoughtfully procured by the trustees of your institutions, should be distributed in small lots to the several public Gardens throughout the colony and to as many careful private cultivators as possible, with a view that numerous plants in various localities may be raised of this important grass, and thus its adaptability to different districts and soils of our colony be reliably tested. During the latter years of my administration of the Melbourne botanic Garden I had this grass also under test-culture, and I was favorably impressed with its promising growth. In the last edition of my volume on "select plants for industrial culture"

2

B81.01.04.

p. 325 I have specially alluded to

Stipa tenacissima

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or the Esparto grass or Atocha. Should no copy of this edition be contained in the public Library, then it would need merely a letter to the Government of New South Wales for obtaining a copy from the Governm. Printing Office in Sydney. I may add, that this litterary issue is or has been in no way of any monetary advantage to me, and that, so soon as I can arrange for a new Victorian Edition such will be brought out on a still more extended form.

3

The next Victorian edition was published eighteen months later; see B85.12.03.

Should the trustees desire still more information on the Esparto-grass, I will afford it readily, so far as I can.

The Esparto seeds are readily germinating, particularly in sandy some what calcareous soil; the sowing would best be effected after the frosty season has passed, unless it is effected under cover. It is best, to sow in first instance on Garden-plots, so as to keep the young plants under full vigilance; subsequently larger sowings from here matured seeds might be effected; besides the plants can be multiplied by division of their roots.