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95.03.00c

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Ferdinand von Mueller to the Leader, 1895-03 [95.03.00c]. 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/1890-6/1895/95-03-00c-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

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Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Answers to correspondents', Leader, 30 March 1895, p. 9 (B95.03.04). The text is introduced by
Yarrow as a Pasture Plant.— Thomas Bogarth, Rocky Cape, North-west Coast Tasmania, writes;— "Have Victorian farmers any experience with yarrow as a pasture plant, and is the seed to be had? In this colony, on forest land, after scrubbing and burning off we sow grasses in March— chiefly cocksfoot— but the caterpillar takes it the first spring almost always, and in bad seasons so weakens the plant that much of it never recovers. Then, after four or five years, what is left is attacked by an underground grass grub and is eaten out. Recently I noticed in the Agricultural Gazette , England, yarrow recommended as a hardy permanent pasture that would survive under circumstances where the grasses and clovers ran out, and it has occurred to me it might suit us. I have heard of two places in this island where it was sown over 30 years ago and is still in the ground, but it is disliked because of the trouble to get rid of It when the land is wanted for cropping." Baron von Mueller kindly furnishes the following reply:—.
In reference to the letter from North Cape, the yarrow (
Adrillex Millefolium

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Typesetter's error for Achillea millefolium?
is certainly a herb liked by sheep, the foliage being particularly devoured when young. It has also the recommendation of growing on sandy soil, even in dry climates. It would not serve well predominantly on sheep pastures, but answers when intermixed with grasses. As it emits suckers readily, this plant must be kept away from agricultural land, from which it would be difficult to eradicate it. If it could be shown that the yarrow does resist the memnatodes,
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Typesetter's error for nematodes?
of which your correspondent speaks, then it would have a still greater claim on the attention of pastoralists in localities where the soil is infested with those parasites. I could send fresh some of various fodder herbs new to culture for test to Rocky Cape in small quantities, some of which might also be resistant to the mematodes
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Typesetter's error for nematodes?
. I would advise that, among other plants, the Australian sheep saltbush should be tried as feed on the infested pastures.