Bot. Garden, 14/6/70
With some considerable surprise, dear Mr Fitzgibbon, I notice a remark in the Argus of this morning,1 emanating from the discussions of the City Council, as if most of the trees (Blue Gum trees) on the Yarra are dead. I saw them very vigorously growing comparatively recently, but have sent this morning a gardener to the Corporation Bank of the River and he reports that 428 (four-hundred and twenty eight trees) are growing nicely (i.e. Blue-Gums, that none are dead but 15 are missing and as far as we can see abstracted.
As regards the price of the Elms much depends on the state of them; they may be had from 2/6 to 9d. In my communication I thought, that the strongest could be had for less than 2/. It will be best to call for tenders and submit the samples to me. The price of 2/ or less would include stakes (8' x 2" x 2") for each tree.
your very regardful
Ferd von Mueller.2
Please cite as “FVM-70-06-14,” 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