From George Bentham to William Hooker    6 May 1861

(Printed for Private Circulation)¹

PROPOSED FLORA OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

Copy of a Letter fromG. Bentham, Esq., F.L.S., to Sir W. J. Hooker,

Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew.

Kew, May 6th, 1861.

My dear Sir William,

It is with feelings of great regret and disappointment that I learn from you that the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have declined sanctioning the publication of a Flora of Australia on the plan of the 'Flora Hongkongensis,'² under the authority of the Colonial Office; for that "adverting to the wealth of the several Colonies in Australia, and to the sense which they have shown of the interests of science and commerce, their Lordships have stated that they think that any Works of the proposed description may be left to the enterprise of the Colonies themselves, and that there are no sufficient reasons to warrant their being undertaken at the cost of this country."³

It is now several years since you did me the favour of communicating to me your ideas relative to the publication of a series of inexpensive practically useful Floras of the British Colonies in the English Language, which it was your intention to urge upon the consideration of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, as essential for ascertaining and developing their several productive capabilities. Your efforts having been successful with regard to the West Indian Flora,⁴ and the Cape Flora⁵ having been also commenced with liberal assistance on the part of the Cape Government, you proposed to me to undertake that of Australia, which could only be done in this country, where are deposited all the early published collections of Brown, Cunningham, Frazer, Drummond etc.; and I then agreed with you upon the terms upon which the plan could be carried out. During the three years which have since elapsed, I have not, it is true, commenced the drawing up of the Work, which I could not do until the necessary outlay should have been officially sanctioned, but, as the project appeared to meet with the strong approval both of the Colonial Government at home and of the Governments of the several Australian Colonies, as well as of Dr. Mueller, the very able Government Botanist at Melbourne, I have kept it steadily in view in the different botanical investigations I have been engaged in, and have incidentally worked up several Australian Genera. I have made many preliminary arrangements, and, in conjuction with yourself and Dr. Hooker, I have matured the plan in all its details, and exemplified it in the Flora of the Island of Hongkong, lately published.⁶

I have now passed my sixtieth year, and if the commencement of the Australian Flora is further delayed, I cannot hope, even should I live, to retain sufficient vigour of mind and body to complete it in a satisfactory manner. At the same time, I cannot but be aware that, having devoted nearly forty years of my life to the study of the Botany of all parts of the world, I have had great practical experience both in the preparation and use of Local Floras; that I am now established in the only centre where the vast collections made by travellers and explorers in Australia can be compared with each other, as well as with the products of other regions; that I am moreover in friendly communication with those French and German establishments which must be consulted in the course of the work; and that I have thus acquired peculiar facilities for the preparation of a general Flora of Australia, so limited as to form and bulk, that I might hope to bring it to a conclusion. This would also be to me a labour of love, provided I could be in some measure indemnified for the cost I should incur, and for the time I should have to take from other pursuits.

I am well aware that several of the richer colonies of Australia would prefer seeing the vegetable productions of their territories illustrated in such splendid quartos as Dr. Hooker’s Flora of Tasmania,⁷ or Dr. Mueller’s Flora of Victoria;⁸ but these books, though valuable monuments, testifying at once to the science of their authors and to the munificence of their promoters, take an enormous time in their preparation; — a general one for all Australia would be the work of nearly half a century. They are too bulky and costly for practical use by those who would study the comparative vegetation of the several colonies with a view to the development of their productive capabilities, or for those who, either resident or travelling in the country, may have a few leisure moments to continue the investigation of its Flora, and who require a portable and readily consultable summary of all that is known on the subject, as a starting-point for further research. The productions of adjoining Colonies are moreover so intimately connected with each other, that to answer the above purposes effectually, a general work is required, that should embrace the whole Flora of the Australian Continent and adjoining islands, but in which the typographical arrangements should be such as to show at a glance which species are peculiar to one, or common to two or more of the separate Colonies.

Such a work might be comprised in six or seven octavo volumes, of the size and type of the ‘Flora Hongkongensis,’ and would probably take as many years to prepare. Were I therefore to receive, in the course of the present year, the necessary authority to commence it, I might hope to bring it to a conclusion myself; and if it were thought necessary that it should be accompanied by illustrations, fifty outline Plates might be added to each volume, without very materially increasing its bulk or price, or delaying the issue of the successive volumes.

As the neccessary authority can now only be obtained from the Colonies themselves, I beg leave to submit, through you, for their consideration the following offer, being the same terms as were contemplated for a general series of Colonial Floras, as laid before the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

I am willing to prepare and publish a Flora of Australia on the plan, of the size, and in the type of my ‘Flora Hongkongensis,’ - distinguishing, however, the species of each of the several Colonies, - in six or seven volumes of about five hundred pages each, provided that I am guaranteed a sum of not less than £150 for each volume, to be paid on its publication, and that 100 copies be taken by the Governments at the selling price, not to exceed 20s. per volume; and that if 50 Plates be added to each volume, £50 be added for their preparation, and the selling price not to exceed 25s. per volume. This would bring the total expense to the Colonies for each volume to £250 without Plates, or £325 with Plates, and I should hope to publish one such volume every year.

I remain,

My dear Sir William

Yours very sincerely,

GEORGE BENTHAM.

Sir William J. Hooker,

Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew.

etc. etc.