Ferdinand von Mueller

Sunday, 31/3/95

Amidst the enormous amount of work, dear Mr Deane, which always surrounds me, I am apt to loose sight of correspondence (6000 letters here with me annually) and I may owe you a letter. Your absense has disturbed our epistolar intercourse;

1

Deane left for San Francisco in May 1894, and after about 12 weeks in the USA went to the UK and Europe for another 9 weeks. His report on electrical railway and tramway systems is summarized in Australian star (Sydney), 5 January 1895, p. 5.

but I am always willing to aid you in your phytologic pursuits.

Has the new part of Fitzgeralds Australian Orchideae appeared?

2

Deane was a friend of R. D. FitzGerald. Following the latter's death in 1892, Deane published posthumously, in 1894, a fifth and final part of Vol. 2 of FitzGerald's Australian Orchids (FitzGerald (1875-1894)).

I always had through his generosity 2 copies, one of which is used for sorting the plates and text generically. My own lithographic works are at abeyance, while the financial state of the colony remains so depressed. But I may be able to send you seeds of economic new plants or others accessible to me through interchanges with foreign countries.