The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: ¶ [The Kyneton 'Guardian' says Mr William Middlemiss recently forwarded five roots of beet grown by him at Fernhill to the Agricultural Laboratory, and has received the subjoined analysis … The seed ...

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93.11.00

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Middlemiss, 1893-11. 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/1890-6/1893/93-11-00m-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Letter not found. The text given here is from Mount Alexander mail, 9 October1894, [p. 2], col. d. Published cultivation advice from the 1890s suggests that from sowing in November to harvest took around 300 days (letter from G. W. Robinson, 'Cultivation of sugar beet', Leader (Melbourne), 16 December 1893, p 9). Mueller was distributing seed, including Vilmorin's, in November 1893, often via local councils; see, for example, M to Winchelsea Sire Council, November 1893 (in this edition as 93-11-00d). Middlemiss was interested in the crop, and in his letter 'Sugar beet cultivation', Leader (Melbourne), 28 October 1893, p. 9, he wrote of the difficulty of 'the obtaining of the required and proper sugar beet seed'. Middlemiss may have obtained his seed direct from M, or from a local council. The supply is dated to November 1893, by analogy with known wide distribution by M at that time.

[The Kyneton 'Guardian' says Mr William Middlemiss recently forwarded five roots of beet grown by him at Fernhill to the Agricultural Laboratory, and has received the subjoined analysis … The seed from which this was grown was that known as Vilmorin's best, obtained from Baron Von Mueller, Government Botanist.]