mutt does not recognize xterm size

[Frank Derichsweiler]

Hi Mutt-users,

I have a problem during startup of mutt on a fast hardware.
Starting mutt with
 xterm -geometry 220x80+70+100 -vb -T "mutt Mail" -j -e mutt
produces a large xterm, but mutt only uses 1/3 of the lines. 
Starting first  xterm -geometry 220x80+70+100 -vb -T "mutt Mail" -j
and then entering mutt <return> produces a "well-formed" mutt,
i.e. mutt recognizes the proper size. Upon request I can send a
screen-shot.
HW: 1200 MHz Thunderbird
SW: mutt-1.2.5, Linux 2.4.1

I tried inserting a sleep 5 before starting mutt (creating a start-up
script) but that does not change the situation.

Any idea?

TIA
Frank