Dictated1
Melbourne 17-4-96.
This letter is dictated to you dear Miss Walker as I do not feel well and as this is at a very late hour of a very buissy day, but I do not wish to keep you longer waiting for reply after your great kindness in sending me the naturally aroma[tic] jam of the fruit of Eugenia Smithy.2 I had no idea that such an excellent preserve could be made from the fruits of this tree. This Eugenia real[...] Eastern Gippsland where I discovered in 1854 already. You must kindly excuse me if I not today already report on the redflowering Eucalyptus, I laid your excellent drawing aside whilst engaged at pressing work of The Department here and cannot lay my hand on it this late hour of the day;3 my engagements have been so overwhelming in the service that I have not been able for a long time to the sad house of mourning of our generous friends at Brighton,4 but hope soon to make a call. I have entered a note for the tenth edition on my volume of "Select Plants"5 concerning your aromatic sacarine preserve of the Eugenia fruit under your honored name.
Trusting you are happy and well
regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller
Eucalyptus
Eugenia Smithy
MS written by G. Luehmann and signed by M.
Eugenia smithii.
See M to A. Walker, 3 June 1896.
Mrs Thomas Anne Cole and her surviving daughter Margaret Morison Cole, the family being referred to at this period as 'Ward-Cole'. The second daughter in the family, Agnes, had died on 20 October 1895 (Argus, 22 October 1895, p. 1).
B95.08.04 was the final edition.
Please cite as “FVM-96-04-17,” 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