11/8/91
Diesmal möchte ich Sie besonders bitten, edler Freund, mir gütig einige Notizen über die Culture-Grenzen im nördlichen Sibirien geben zu wollen, da ich solche unter Ihrem hohen Namen für die neue Ausgabe der "Select plants" verwerthen möchte. Reichen überhaupt irgend Culturpflanzen oder irgend wilde Industrie-Pflanzen bis zum allernördlichsten Theil Sibiriens, also bis über die Breite des Nord Cap Über die da vorkommenden u möglichen Culturen habe ich einige Notizen aus Norwegen — Indessen wird die Küste Norwegens ja weit hinauf durch den "Golf-Strom" im Clima milder gemacht, als dies unter denselben Breitengraden im östlichen Asien sein kann.
Ich fürchte, Sie in Ihrer vielseitigen Güte doch oft vernachlässigt zu haben, aber ich finde es oft unmöglich all das Erforderliche zu bezwingen
Immer Ihr
Ferd. von Mueller
11/8/91
This time I specially want to ask you, noble friend, to be so kind as to provide me with some notes on the cultivation limits in northern Siberia, as I would like to utilize them for the new edition of the "Select plants" under your great name. Do any cultivated plants or any native plants used for industrial purposes grow as far as the northern-most part of Siberia, that is above the latitude of the North Cape?1 I have a few notes about the present and possible cultivations there from Norway. But then the coast of Norway is made milder in climate far up by the "Gulf Stream" than is possible under the same latitudes in eastern Asia.
I fear that I have often neglected you in your abundant kindness, but I often find it impossible to manage everything that is demanded of me.
Always your
Ferd. von Mueller
The next edition of M's Select plants was B91.09.01, published just over a month after the date of this letter. That edition has the same references to Siberia as the preceding one, B88.12.01. The following edition, B95.08.04, has only one more reference to Siberia, on the authority of 'Dr. Rosenthal', concerning Caragana arborescens, native to Siberia and 'reaching to 70° North', that is, to just south of the latitude of North Cape, Norway, which is 71°10' North.
Please cite as “FVM-91-08-11,” 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