[Sir, —Will you allow me a small space to acknowledge a gift from Dr. Mueller, curator1 the Botanical-gardens, Melbourne, of a [b]undle2 of hop plants of improved varieties? Having grown the hop plant successfully as an experiment, and finding the climate and soil of this district admirably adapted for its cultivation, I applied for some good and improved kinds to Dr. Mueller, who immediately supplied me, and I trust this public acknowledgment, which I feel due to him, will not be offensive.]3
i.e. Director. The post of Curator, formerly held by John Dallachy, was abolished in 1862; see Dowe & Maroske (2016), p. 94.
editorial addition; defective print.
McVicar has not been positively identified; there was more than one Robert McVicar farming at Tower Hill.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Yeoman notes and queries. Hop plants and Dr. Mueller', Australasian (Melbourne), 24 October 1868, p. 537, a letter to the editor dated 3 October from McVicar, writing from Koroit, Tower Hill, Vic. Assuming that McVicar wrote when the cuttings were received, and not after they had been grown and harvested, the letter is dated to late September 1868, as the latest likely date that M could have sent them, for McVicar to receive them and write to the newspaper on Saturday 3 October.
Please cite as “FVM-68-09-00a,” 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