Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA), 16 July 1884, p. 5 (B84.07.02). It is introduced by ' Baron Von Mueller, writing to the Editor of this paper by the last Colonial mail, says:—'. It is dated to late June: the colonial mail arrived in Fremantle per Ferret on 11 July ( Inquirer and commercial news , 16 July 1884, p. 5), having been collected at Albany where they had arrived per Ravenna which had cleared out of Melbourne on 1 July ( Herald (Melbourne), 1 July 1884, p. 3).

For many years I have forwarded on numerous occasions seeds of various utilitarian plants to Western Australian settlements, but in very rare instances only have I learnt of the results obtained from the experimental sowing of such seeds in the different localities. The great interest evinced by yourself in industrial culture encourages me to ask whether it would do good to convey through your valuable journal a public request that any of your colonists, who were successful in rearing the seeds received to practical purposes, might favor us with some special information of the local success obtained. This would be a guidance in further sendings, not to speak of the encouragement thus given to the sender. As the Western Australian territory stretches through so many degrees of latitude, the cultures would necessarily be varied in different regions there, and failures in cultural experiments at one locality would not exclude success at another. We have thus yet very much to learn on the chances of developing the cultural resources in various tracts of your wide territory, and strides in this direction might be promoted, if we gained some information on the success attained hitherto by trial culture.