Document information

Physical location:

89.03.00g

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1889-03 [89.03.00g]. 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/1880-9/1889/89-03-00g-final.odt>, accessed June 15, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Easy mode of preserving succulent botanic specimens', Gardeners' chronicle, 11 May 1889, p. 594. The letter is dated to March as the latest likely date for it to have been sent to be included in this issue.
[At places closed to traffic writes Baron Sir Ferdinand V. Mueller, many kinds of botanic specimens, not readily admitting of the ordinary pressing and drying process between paper, might be preserved by plunging them into drums containing methylised alcohol. Thus succulent flowers and fruits could be secured in the best possible state for scientific purposes, but each kind of flower or of fruit should be on its leafy branchlet, and each specimen should be tied separately into a piece of calico. This mode of collecting is expeditious and cheap, but can, of course, not be employed in pedestrian journeys. If, however, the collectors will bring the succulent specimens in a basket to the harbour or settlement, such material is likely to remain unimpaired after even some days' carriage in a basket, and may be then transferred to the vessel containing the alcoholic preserving fluid. Iron drums, such as are used for the mercantile conveyance of petroleum, can be cheaply so altered as to obtain a wide lid fixed with screws for perfect closing.
2
M supplied such drums of spirit to William MacGregor for collecting in Papua; see M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 4 May 1889.
]