Melbourne b[ot] Garden
[15/3/1867]1
Herewith, dear Mr Manners-Sutt[on,] I beg to send yo[u] a collection of s[eeds] gathered this au[tumn] & desired by Lady Manners-Sutt[on] for Trinidad.2 If [...] easier means of communication existed we might send a case with Norfolk Island pines, but the passage via London would be costly and precarious for such a consignment. [Pos]sibly however [me]ans exist to [fo]rward such a [...] under the [ca]re of a passenger [...] Panama.
your regardful
Ferd. Mueller.3
The edge of the page has been torn away, leaving the end of most lines (and the beginning of most lines on the verso) missing. Matter in […] is an inferred reading. The date has been supplied by the cover note on the file, which describes the subject of the letter as ‘Flower seeds for Lady Manners Sutton’.
J. H. T. Manners-Sutton had been Governor of Trinidad prior to becoming Governor of Victoria in August 1866.
MS annotations: 'Thank very much. The seeds were sent to Trinidad forthwith. As regards Norfolk Pines Ly. M S [Lady Manners-Sutton] thinks that it would be useless to send them to Trinidad as no coniferous trees flourish there | J. H. T. M S [J. H. T. Manners-Sutton] | March 19/67' and ‘Done HMS [Henry Manners-Sutton] 20 March 1867’ [letter not found].
Notwithstanding Lady Manners-Sutton's opinion that they would not flourish, a case of Araucaria plants, as well as 200 kinds of seeds, were received in Trinidad (H. Prestoe to J. Hooker, 24 June 1867, RBG Kew, Directors' correspondence, vol. 213, ff. 396-7). Henry Prestoe was pleased that 'through the kindness of Lady Manners-Sutton I am in correspondence with Dr. Mueller of Melbourne', and continued that 'of course I shall be able and most glad to respond liberally'. M reported receiving plants from the Trinidad Botanic Gardens in M to J. Grant, 8 March 1869. He had also received seeds from Lady Manners-Sutton; see M to J. Hooker, 28 March 1870 (in this edition as 70-03-28a). He sent more seeds in 1870 (M to J. Casey, 15 May 1873).
Please cite as “FVM-67-03-15,” 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