Copy
Melbourne botanic Garden
June 4th 1862
W. C. Smith Esqu. M.P.
Honorable & dear Sir
Allow me to mention that according to the records of my Office the botanic Garden of Ballarat was supplied with 500 rooted plants, 30 species of cuttings, 203 species of seeds of shrubs & trees and 87 species of seeds of herbaceous plants. The seeds were all well matured and freshly collected and will be sufficient to raise many thousand plants.
Mr Heyne, one of the most intelligent Officers of my establishment, conducted Mr Longhley2 the gardener of the Ballarat botan. garden, over the whole nursery ground, important other business pressing on the day of Mr Longhley's visit (May 5th) on my personal attention.
I candidly admit, that I am parsimonious with the distribution of some species of select pines, because I desire them to be kept together by thousands in one of the adjoining reserves, for obtaining in future large quantities of seeds from them for forest culture. I was not aware, that the requirements of the Ballarat botan. garden had not been fully responded to, but on the contrary learn from Mr Heyne, that all that was desired & available had been supplied. If however the arrangements of the Ballarat Garden Committee render it desirable, that still some select rare pines should be added to those already received, I shall feel particular happiness to supply 50 Deodars & 50 other select pines, in this as an exceptional instance, although a general supply at this ratio, would within a few days exhaust the stock of these plants.
Happy to give the wishes of your public institutions as far as it lies in my power my best attention
I remain
Honorable & dear Sir
faithfully yours
signed F Mueller
MS written by Ernst Heyne. See also M to J. O'Shanassy, 14 May 1862. The letter was printed in the Ballarat star, 6 June 1862, p. 1 S (B62.06.01), where it was introduced by 'The following letter from Dr Mueller, Government Botanist, has been forwarded to us for publication, in explanation of a question which has recently arisen in respect to the supply of plants &c to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens’:
The 'question which has recently arisen' is probably reflected by an item in the Star, 17 May 1862, p. 2:
Apropos of the stand being made by the professional gardeners in and about Melbourne against the practice of gratuitous supplies of plants from the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, we may mention that Dr Mueller does not always win a name for liberality in those matters. One or two applications have been lately made to that gentleman by the curator of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, for selections of certain species of trees, but although the learned botanist has thousands of the species in question he offered a very narrow dole of each in response to the application made, so narrow indeed as to seem niggardly from such a stock to such a place as Ballarat. It may be, however, that Dr Mueller has been a little disturbed from his usual propriety, or what the professionals may call impropriety in these matters by the late agitation got up, and not without some show of reason, by the horticulturists already mentioned. Indeed, we believe that cause was assigned, though somewhat illogically perhaps, as a reason for only giving a few where a larger number of specimens were asked for. If it were right to do a little wrong, the Committee of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens would easily pardon Dr Mueller if in this case he had done a greater wrong of the sort in question.
Please cite as “FVM-62-06-04,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 23 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/62-06-04