WCP2396

[1]¹

Parsonage,

Circular Head²

May 5. 1879.

My dear Sir

I sent you two packages by last post of seeds and best bulbs I could get hold of — The names given[?] are not to be relied on or the orthography either I expect — next year I hope to get you something better and I shall be glad to do anything in my power[.]

I am afraid the seeds will not be worth much. Native seeds are extremely difficult to rear — many people here pour boiling water over them & they say it helps them to germinate! I have tried this successfully with Banksia serrata³.

Will you favour me with your photograph? — I have [2] a few celebrities and beyond the fact of your being 6f[ee]t 1 inch which I learn from your experience of the "house at Bessir"⁴ Malay Archipelago⁵ [sic] Vol[ume]: II p[age] 359 — I have no idea of your personal appearance tho’[ough] you seem familiar from my knowledge of your books — I get a parcel from the Melbourne "Mudie"⁶every month and "Tropical Nature"⁷ is expected every day — I have seen it very favourably reviewed[.] [3] Of Botanical Interest There is a little botanical fact which has come under my notice & I have thought of mentioning it several times[.] Wherever the Virgin forest is cleared in Tasmania there invariably comes up a thick crop of what is known as "fire-weed"⁸ — it never grows except when the fire has gone over the ground & is unknown anywhere except in dense forests — it is a plant about 3 or 4 feet high with yellow flowers (inconspicuous)[.] I know nothing of Botany or I w[oul]d. give a fuller description — The question is where does the [4] seed come from? I am certain that it cannot be blown to the places where the plant appears, and it is difficult to imagine its transportation by birds in the quantity there must be, — besides the plant is unknown except in the places & under the conditions named — This autumn I went back about 35 miles thro[ough] a dense forest along a track marked by some prospectors the year before and in one spot where they had camped & the fire had burnt the fallen logs &c — there was a fine crop of "fire-weed" — all around for many miles was a forest of the largest trees & dense scrub & no birds to be seen —

Believe me my dear Sir | Yours very truly | Edward D. Atkinson⁹ [signature]