Botanic Gardens
Sydney 25 Feby 1876
Dear Dr Hooker
By the "St Osythe" steamer which takes this,1 I have shipped for you a case containing the plants named in the enclosed list. As you will observe these are for the most part unnamed species from the islands of the Western Pacific, some of which may prove to be new and acceptable to you. Among the most interesting of these is a fern attached to a singular plant both quite new to me, and a donation to you from Lady Robinson the wife of our Governor2 & I should be glad if you will name both plants and acknowledge the receipt of them to Lady Robinson. A Mr Ludham a passenger by the ship from New Zealand has promised to take care of the Case while on board. I sent by the last mail a few specimens of recently collected timber trees which we have sent to the Philadelphia Exhibition.3 These are different from any hitherto [collected], with perhaps one or two exceptions, and will prove valuable additions to our timber collection at Kew after the Exhibition is over. I sent the specimens to Mr Bentham direct, as Muellers unaccountable conduct to me of late, renders it quite impossible for me to send specimens through him for the future. When referring to any of my plants in his Fragmenta, he mentions one of my assistants, Carrons name instead of my own. 4 This is done to annoy me because he thinks I did not sufficiently support him in his efforts to retain the Directorship of the Melbourne Garden,5 a matter in which I had no more [power than …]6 has— on this point however he is a perfect Maniac.7
We are experiencing a very lengthened and severe drought, and our outdoor plants are suffering terribly in consequence. Should the drought continue much longer it will be most serious to the Colony.
Faithfully Your
Charles Moore8
Freight paid here. Bill of Lading sent to Silberrad 5 Harp Lane9
Dr Hooker C.B. P.R.S.
In earlier letters Moore commented on M's plight:
'Mueller's present position in the Garden is simply this—as Director he has of course general charge of the plants & grounds—but Ferguson his assistant has all the workmen under his direction & is responsible for the proper maintenance of the Garden. I doubt much whether this arrangement will work well or for any great length of time' (C. Moore to J. Hooker, 8 September 1870, f. 230, p. 4). He reported in detail on a visit to Melbourne a few months before M's position as Director of the Gardens was abolished, when he found 'poor Mueller' to be 'as miserable a man as there is in the whole Continent of Australia'; see C. Moore to J. Hooker, 24 February 1873 (in this edition as M73-02-24).
In C. Moore to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 17 July 1878 (RBG Kew, Directors Correspondence, vol. 173, f. 256) Moore wrote 'through Baron Mueller with whom I am again in friendly correspondence, I am in treaty with a pupil of his to take the position here of Collector and in charge of the herbarium'. That negotiation evidently failed, because in a letter in the following month, Moore wrote that he had not succeeded in filling the post, and reported that 'Mueller of Melbourne has mentioned to me a man in Brisbane as likely to suit me' (C. Moore to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 15 August 1878, f. 258).
Please cite as “FVM-M76-02-25,” 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 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/M76-02-25