May 29.
At last, dear Mr. Kellaway, I got yesterday the sample of soil, and as you want only to know about its contents of lime, which is easily determined, I managed that for you. The anticipation that your forest soil was (in some places at least) very deficient in that important vegetable ailiment,1 has proved quite true, only one-fifth of one present2 being in the sample transmitted. You must repair this defect by saving bones of all kinds for manure, gathering sea shells, and dressing the soil with any lime substance, even if it had to be brought from a distance. Surely there is lime rock somewhere on your coast to resort to extensively for your purposes.
Yours, &c.
Ferd. VON MUELLER
Typesetter's error for aliment?
Typesetter's error for percent?
Letter not seen. The text given here is from 'Our scrub soils', Northern star (Lismore, NSW), 12 June 1880, p. 2 (B80.06.03). It is introduced by 'Some time since, at the request of a subscriber, we forwarded Baron Von Mueller, of Melbourne, a sample of the soil in the Big Scrub for his inspection, with the view of getting an opinion thereon. The following is his reply, just to hand :—'. Kellaway is identified as the printer and publisher of the newspaper in the statutory notice on p. 4, col. g.
Please cite as “FVM-80-05-29,” 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