Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. For the text given here, see 'Baron Sir F. Von Mueller to Director Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica', Bulletin of the Botanical Department. Kingston, Jamaica, new series, vol. 3, p 169 (B96.08.02). Fawcett introduced M's letter with the following remarks:

Baron Sir F Von Mueller, Government Botanist of Victoria, has in the following letter called attention to the value of different kinds of "Salt Bushes" as food for sheep and cattle in parts of the warmer regions of the world where other vegetation is scanty, and the soil is impregnated with saline particles. These plants are well worthy of trial in such districts in Jamaica, and seed will be procured from Australia for those who wish to make the experiment.

Although they are desert plants, they require some care before they become established. It is recommended that the seed be sown in nursery beds, or in bamboo pots, and after three or four months they may be transplanted to their permanent position. It is best to plant them out after the "seasons" rains are over. When once they are established they require no more care, and will then seed and spread.

Melbourne, 23rd June, 1896.

By this mail, dear Mr. Fawcett, I send you fresh seeds (or rather fruits) of four Atriplices of the best rural Australian species.

2

In 'Contributions to the Department', Jamaica bulletin of the Botanical Department (1896) p. 191, Fawcett notes the following seeds as donations from M: Atriplex leptocarpum, A. halimoides, Kennedya monophylla, Acacia microbotrys, A. pycnantha, Trivella robusta [name not found: misreading of Frenela robusta,?], Eucalyptus calophylla, E. paniculata, E. Muelleriana, E.corymobsa, E. miniata, E. resinifera, E. tereticornis, E. haemastoma.

You may perhaps do as much wonder with them on your salt plains as Professor Hilgard did with

Atriplex semibaccatum

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and several other species, which on my own thoughts and impulses I introduced for the Alkali country of California and the adjoining states, and for which boon he gives my Department some acknowledgement in his reports.

3

See Jaffa (1894).

These alkali lands have suddenly, through these "Salt Bushes" of mine, risen enormously in value; indeed though California was discovered and sparingly colonized soon after Columbus' time, they were till these last years forbidden ground, as not even indigenous plants would grow on them. The A. semibaccatum is relished most by cattle, and all sorts by sheep.