[That cotton can be grown on the northern plains of Victoria — and of a very fine quality, too — has been demonstrated by Mr. Rozan,1 a farmer living at Torrumbarry.2 Some time ago he received a few seeds from Baron Von Mueller, the Government botanist, for the purpose of experimenting with them. The seeds were sown, and the plants reached a height between four and five feet. They bore variegated flowers, but chiefly white, which were in turn succeeded by capsules rather larger than walnuts, and of a conical shape. These matured a few days ago and burst, disclosing the white downy cotton, of a particularly fine texture. Several of the green pods and those already burst were brought to Sandhurst3 on Saturday by a relative of Mr. Rozan's, who also intends forwarding some to Baron Von Mueller.]
Typesetter's mistake for Rosan.
Vic.
Now Bendigo, Vic.
Letter not found. The text given here is from ‘Cotton Growing in Northern Victoria’, Bendigo independent, 16 March 1886, p. 2 (reprinted in ‘Agricultural Notes’, Leader, 20 March 1886, p. 9). The correspondence is dated to 1885 since a cotton plant takes around 180 days from planting seeds to produce harvestable bolls.
Please cite as “FVM-85-00-00a,” 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