March 11 /80
My dear Von Mueller
The person to address on the subject of Miers' death1 is his son John Miers Jr. — an Engineer who had the construction of important works at Rio & now lives in England having still busness connections I believe with Brazil.
Many thanks for the nice collection of seeds just received. I am particularly glad of the Grevillea annulifera.2
We have had a very deplorable winter after a cold drenching summer. For two months we could do no garden work, & now the weather has changed suddenly & the buds are bursting just when I have an immense deal of transplanting to do.
This winter finishes my arrangement of the Arboretum — & I have just planted the Castaneas & Coryli in the places they will permanently occupy, & am proceeding with Fagus, Ostrya, & Carpinus as fast as I can. — It has been a twelve years job this planting the Arboretum. That formed by my father was all but ruined by the carelessness of the foreman of the ground, & the fact that he was not allowed to cut down any trees or to buy good soil! The noble collection he brought together was consequently dislocated starved overgrown & denuded of names.
I wish that more of your Australian plants would stand our climate, but you may count on your fingers all that will I put many against a sheltered South wall 2-3 years ago, but this winter has killed them all Eucalyptus polyanthemos alone defies the winter, owing no doubt to its roots being deep in the Earth. E. globulus has never stood 2 winters — one unnamed Tasmanian alpine one has dragged out a miserable existence for near 30 years but is a scare-crow.
Ever sincerely yr
J D Hooker
Carpinus
Castanea
Corylus
Eucalyptus globulus
Eucalyptus polyanthemos
Fagus
Grevillea annulifera
Ostrya
Please cite as “FVM-80-03-11,” 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