To William Thiselton-Dyer   11 March 1894

11/3/94.1

 
 

Let me thank you for your kind letter, dear Dr Dyer,2 and all the friendly wishes which it contains for me and which I sincerely reciprocate. As regards notes on Marram-Grass all I can say, is, that the only communication to the public press thereon, is the one which was appeared in the Melbourne weekly journal "Leader" and emanated from Mr Avery of Port Fairy.3 His account of the successes with this grass at the coast near him, was utilized by our friend Dr Masters for an article in the Gardeners Chronicle,4 and allusion to this Victorian concern was also made in a recent number of the Society of Arts.5 The photograms in the Leader and in the Chronicle are not the same, but pictures taken at different places. I have searched for a copy of the Leader containing this record of the Psamma, but it seems I have not left one of the few numbers purchased at the time. If I can get still one, I will send it to you.6

With regardful remembrance your

Ferd von Mueller

 

Psamma

 
Date stamped:Royal Gardens Kew 16 Apr 94.
Letter not found.

Leader , 2 December 1893, p. 8. The article, headed ‘Marram grass. — Psamma Arenaria’, includes two photographs, and is introduced as follows:

The Marram grass, the seed of which was first introduced into the Colony of Victoria by the Government botanist, Baron von Mueller, in 1883 (and by him entrusted to the Borough Council of Port Fairy for experiment on the barren shifting sand hummocks fronting the coastline of Port Fairy), has been proved to be the most effective sand stay ever planted. Practical evidence of its value can be seen in the 50 miles of sandhills extending between Warrnambool and Port Fairy, now reclaimed by the Marram plantations, sown under the direction of Mr. S. Avery, the park ranger.

Gardeners’ chronicle , 16 December 1893, p. 750 (with two two etchings, signed ‘W Welch Sc’, on p. 745).
Journal of the Society of Arts, vol. 42, 19 January 1894, pp. 140–41.

Folio 236 contains a cutting from the Agricultural journal of the Cape Colony Department of Agriculture, 26 July 1894, headed ‘Sand-Stay Grasses’, which begins: 'The subjoined report extracted from the Australian Leader of 2nd December 1893, on Marram grass grown at Port Fairy, opens a question of vital importance to the sandy districts of the Colony.'.

Folios 239-43 have cuttings from the Journal of horticulture and cottage gardener (London), 14 September 1893, p. 245; Gardeners’ chronicle (the item noted above); and Port Elizabeth telegraph (South Africa), 1 March 1894.

Please cite as “FVM-94-03-11,” 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 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/94-03-11