Melbourne, 8th February, 1881
Geo. Hubbard, Esq., Secretary to the Tasmanian Commissioners at the International Exhibition.1
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter of yesterday,2 it gives me pleasure to state that on the many occasions when my duties as a commissioner or juror of the Exhibition, or my scientific enquiries simply as a visitor, brought me to your rich, beautiful, and instructive Tasmanian court, I found you invariably at your post, and I experienced from you every attention and constant urbanity. In answer to your enquiry, I have further to remark that I have seen exhibited in your court the cross-section of wood of the Drimys aromatica, which Mr Wintle so thoughtfully brought a short time ago, as demonstrative of the extraordinary height attained by this tree in Tasmania—viz., 73ft. This shows how exuberant the growth of this usually very small tree, or even alpine dwarf shrub, may become in the fertile soil and the genial clime of your island.
Respectfully yours,
Ferd. Von Mueller.
Drimys aromatica
International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1880-1.
Letter not found.
Letter not found. For the text given here, see Launceston examiner, 15 February 1881, p. 3. It follows a letter to the editor from George Hubbard responding to a letter from S. H. Wintle that had been published in the newspaper on 1 February 1881, p. 3, criticizing Hubbard's role at the International Exhibition in Melbourne and his failure to exhibit the specimens of the tree Wintle had supplied.
Please cite as “FVM-81-02-08,” 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