To William Macarthur   6 June 1869

Melb. bot Garden

6/6/69.

It affords me very much pleasure, dear Sir William, to be able to send you all the plants, which you desire. I have taken them out of pots, and packed them horizontally. The case is forwarded simultaneously with this letter.

My Cinchonae have borne a cold of 28° F. but only in a completely sheltered position in a brush shade. A less degree of cold will carry them off if combined with wind. The whole secret of Cinchona culture consists in associating them with ferntrees in their natal places of the latter. We might weather the plants through a very hot summer in a sheltered spot and through a frosty winter, but their growth would not be prolific for bark culture. It is therefore only by having Cinchona plantations in the fern tree gullies themselfes, that we can do good with them. Indeed it is the fern soil also, in which they delight, and I am here so unfortunately placed, that for raising the plants I have to fetch such soil 30 miles from the ranges or from Tasmania! As yet I have had no funds to form a separate Cinchona establishment in our fern glens, where also Cork Oaks, Hickories, West Austr. Mahogony, N.SW. Red Cedar, Chinese & Assam Tea and Coffee and several other plants are to be grown in quantity and for which purpose I have very many thousand plants ready, as, I think, I explained in my report, which I hope you received¹

I need scarcely say, how happy I shall be to get the rare Alsophila Cooperi from your vallies for my artificial fern tree gully here, which contains about 10 species of treeferns, but as far as I can see not this one. Hooker a few weeks before his death in the synopsis filicum reduced it to Alsophila excelsa (from Norfolk-Island), but our lamented friend had probably imperfect material to judge! This may be an apt opportunity to state that about 2 years before his death Sir Will Hooker revised all my ferns, a large case full, sent to Kew on loan. He wrote then on the cover of a huge package of Alsophilae (comprising what he subsequently distinguished as A. australis, A. M'Arthuri² & A. excelsa (A. Rebeccae & A Robertsiana then not being discovered) that either several species as but one existed, but that he could not make out their limits. When soon after the return of the original specimens from Kew my collector at Rockinghams Bay found A Rebecca & A Robertsiana the occasion arose to revise the genus, as far as the Australian members are concerned & I had certainly no knowledge of even the name, which one of the species bore (unpublished as far as I know) in honor of yourself. My oldest specimens of a new one were Leichhardts (1842) & I gladly gave to it Leichhardts name, which in the synopsis has rightly given way to yours. I presume that all the rare plants are almost annihilated at Illawarra. — How sad, that not a square mile of this floral paradise is sacredly preserved and reserved by Government. An other generation would wander through the remnant of that famed classic spot with veneration.

There must be many heath-plants also in that direction new to locality. I wished much, it would fall to my lot to determine from collections of many local observers the southern limit of the many East Australian plants, which not advance into Gipps land.

Any notes of yours dear Sir William, on immigrated plants will with scrupulous care be utilized for the supplemental volume of the Austr. flora.³ — of your exhibition I had never any special knowledge, altho' Mr Walter Hill of Brisbane referred incidentally to it, but this mere allusion passed amidst the turmoils of so much other work quite from my memory, and as I have never leisure to read political papers I became not reminded of the exhibition.⁴ I merely mention this as an excuse, that I did not contribute, as this might be construed into apathy. Above all however I do not wish that this explanation should cause ill feelings in any quarter. I certainly do not remember having received any papers on the subject, and if I did so and forgot it, it must have been during my severe illness. The correspondence written by my own hand is about 3000 letters a year, and this again only a small byework of late evening hours mostly; thus some oversight or forgetfulmess may occur. I was however an exhibitor at St Petersburg last month.

The drought has also here most sadly impeded our progress. With no water supply on 400 acres except by steam pumps, it was a time of terror for many months, for our heat is not less than yours and our air on days of hot winds still drier, I believe. —

In writing to Sir Edward, pray let me be kindly remembered and let me remain your very regardful

Ferd. von Mueller.

Pray let the cases be opened as early as possible, in order that the plants may not be too long imprisoned. Should any have suffered, I will replace them.

May I venture to offer you the enclosed little photogram⁵ and solicit yours & Sir Edwards for my book of portraits of celebrated men, who honored me with their friendship. The picture is an old one, as I have not sat in an atelier for several years.

It seems that I overlooked any notice inviting contributions from the other colonies in the excellent journal of the Agricult. Soc.⁶

Alsophila australis

Alsophila Cooperi

Alsophila excelsa

Alsophila M'Arthuri

Alsophila Rebeccae

Alsophila Robertsiana

Cinchona