CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICITLTURE, VI0TORlA;i 
 
 SCHOOL OE HOETICULTUEE. 
 
 . EetaMiahedr May, 1891. 
 
 MONTHLY LECTURES 
 
 'DEl.rVEREI> AT 
 
 SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE, 
 
 BY VARIOUS SPECIALISTS, 
 
 DURING 
 
 1892-1893. 
 
 1&U ^uttottt^: 
 
 KOBT. S. BRAIN, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOUENB. 
 
DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE, VICTORIA. 
 
 SCHOOL OF HOETICULTTIEB. 
 
 Established May, 1891. 
 
 MOl^THLY LECTURES 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE, 
 
 BY VARIOUS SFEOIALISTS, 
 
 1892-1893. 
 
 ALBERT R. MANN 
 UBRA RY 
 
 AT 
 CORNELL UXrVLRSLTY 
 
 EOBT. S. BRAIN, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE. 
 826. 
 
Department of Agriculture, Victoria. 
 
 kho0l ijf ^0rticttItor«, ^kkmonii. 
 
 Established 1891. 
 
 D. Martin, Esq., Seceetaey vor Agbiculture, Chairman. 
 
 Hon. WiLMAM Anderson. 
 
 Hbkrt Boyce, Esq. 
 
 Charles Draper, Esq., J. P. 
 
 Joseph Harris, Esq., M,L.A. 
 
 James Lang, Esq., J. P. 
 
 Mb. Geo. Neilson, C.M.R.H.S.L. 
 
 Uctnxzt on §otnn^, IfsrfaU* ^UkoloQ^, anb ^%ximltux«l Scunu 
 
 bt-mAns on '^oxticxdtute : 
 
 Me. D. MoAlpine. 
 
 Practical work in the Gardens and the Lectures are continued throughout 
 the year. 
 
 The Lectures are free to all interested in Horticultural Pursuits, Ladies 
 included. 
 
 Country Horticulturists when in town may avail themselves of the 
 privilege of attending any of the Lectures. 
 
 A 2 
 
i=KOs:E>EiOT-crs. 
 
 SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE. 
 
 1. The maximum number of students is twenty-five (25). 
 
 2. The instruction is free. 
 
 3. Students are non-resident. 
 
 4. Applications from intending students will be received by the 
 Secretary for Agriculture, Public Offices, Melbourne. 
 
 5. Applications for vacancies which may occur will be dealt 
 with in the order of priority of application. 
 
 6. Each student on admission must be over the age of fourteen 
 years, and must produce a State school certificate, or an equiva- 
 lent thereto, as to his education, together with a certificate of 
 moral character from some person of known good repute, a justice 
 of the peace, or a clergyman. 
 
 7. A moiety of the students may be adults, who may not be 
 required to furnish school certificates. 
 
 8. All applications for admission as students must be accom- 
 panied by a sum of Five pounds (£5) as a guarantee for good 
 behaviour, and which may be used for payment of fines. 
 
 9. Students are received for a term of not less than six months, 
 and not more than three years. 
 
 10. Each student shall conform to the rules and regulations for 
 the time being in force for the government and management of 
 the gardens, under penalty of expulsion or of such lesser punish- 
 ment as the board of advice may impose. 
 
 11. The course of instruction will include practical horticulture 
 in its various branches, botany, vegetable pathology, and agricul- 
 tural science as applied to horticulture. 
 
 12. An examination of students will be held at least once in 
 each year by examiners to be appointed by the board. 
 
 13. Students who shall, at the end of the second or third year's 
 training, have passed a satisfactory examination in the subjects 
 taught may be granted a certificate of proficiency. 
 
As the lectures, which were intended for the instruction of the 
 students in the School of Horticulture, contain an amount of 
 information of general utility — and although the public were 
 admitted to the lectures, there is necessarily a large number of 
 persons engaged in horticulture who, from the nature of their 
 employment, and the fact of their residing at a considerable 
 distance from the metropolis, were unable to avail themselves of 
 the privilege of attending the lectures — it has been decided to 
 publish the series delivered during the present year, in the hope 
 that the information contained therein may be disseminated with 
 profit to persons engaged in rural industries. 
 
 Copies may be obtained on personal or written application. 
 
 D. MARTIN, 
 
 Secretary for Agriculture. 
 
 Melbourne, 20th December, 1893. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 1. Inaugural Lectiire — ^Botany in its Relation to Horticulture. By 
 
 D.McAlpine ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 
 
 2. Our Indigenous Plants in Relation to Horticulture. By Baron 
 
 von Mueller, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.E.S., &c. ... ... ... 19 
 
 3. Undeyeloped Sources of Wealtb. By Joseph Harris, M.L. A. ... 22 
 
 4. Manures and Manuring. By A. N. Pearson, Gorernment Agricul- 
 
 tural Qhemist ... ... ... ... ... ... 45> 
 
 5. Economic Entomology :, Some Advantages to be derived from 
 
 its Study. By C. French, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Government 
 Entomologist ... ... ... ... ... ... 64 
 
 6. Glimpses of some British Botanical Gardens and their Conser- 
 
 vatories. By W. R.;^Guilfoyle, F.L.S., Director Melbourne 
 Botanic Gardens ... ... ... ... ... 75 
 
 7. Victorian Land in its Relation to Cultural Effort. By Ambrose 
 
 C. Neate ... ... ... ... ... ... 86 
 
 8. The Commercial Aspect of Bee-keeping. By L. T. Chambers, 
 
 Bee-keepers' Supply Association ... ..." ... ... 93 
 
 Appendix : Prize Essays by Student A. E. Bennett ... ... 101 
 
BOTANY IN ITS RELATION TO HORTI- 
 CULTURE. 
 
 A lecture delivered hy Mr. D. Mc Alpine, Government Pathologist, 
 at the opening of the School of Horticulture at Richmond. 
 
 Intkoductort. 
 
 We are met here to-day to publicly inaugurate the new School 
 of Horticulture, which has already been open for the reception of 
 students since the month of May ; and as I understand that this 
 is the first institution of the kind in Australia devoted specially to 
 the instruction of students in the principles and practice of horti- 
 culture, I think you will agree with me that the occasion is one 
 of more than ordinary importance. 
 
 The chairman has already briefly sketched its history, from the 
 time when the proposal was made to take over the Royal Horti- 
 cultural Society's Gardens by the Department of Agriculture until 
 the establishment of a School of Horticulture has become an accom- 
 plished fact. And it now remains for me to show, before entering 
 upon the special subject of my lecture, how this school proposes 
 to fulfil the objects for which it has been called into existence. 
 
 Neckssitt foe School or Hoeticultuee. 
 
 Of the need of such an institution, and of the time being ripe 
 for its establishment, there can be no manner of doubt. The 
 necessity for something of the kind to stimulate and give direc- 
 tion to an industry which is destined to take a leading place in 
 the development of this colony is clearly shown by the fact that 
 agricultural colleges have supplied a decided want, and the ery is 
 for more of them. Indeed, the incongruity, if I might so call it, 
 of attending to the educational wants of the farmer in agricultural 
 matters, and neglecting those of the fruit-grower, seems to have 
 impressed the Government, for the Hon. Alfred Deakin, presiding 
 (as Acting Minister of Agriculture) over the conference in con- 
 nexion with the suppression of insect pests a year ago, said — 
 " We have agricultural and vitieultural colleges, or we are about 
 to have them; and as far as we can judge by our experience the 
 work done by those colleges is good work, and work the value of 
 which is likely to greatly increase. It seems very desirable that 
 something of the same sort should be done in connexion with 
 horticulture. I hope to be in a position in a short time to make 
 public the conditions under which something like a horticultural 
 college, of course with gardens attached — a practical horticultural 
 
8 
 
 college — could be called into existence." The hope of a year 
 ago is a realized fact to-day, and the horticulturist, as well as the 
 agriculturist, has his training school, to which he or his sons may 
 go, provided by a paternal G-overnment. Then, again, the mone- 
 tary value of the fruit industry alone to the colony argues the 
 necessity for the best possible training being given to those about 
 to engage in it. I find that while the imports of cereals and 
 preparations thereof have declined within the last ten years from 
 £235,000 (in round numbers) in 1881 to £109,000 in 1890, and the 
 amount retained for home use from £178,000 to £64,000 in the 
 same time, making us almost self-supporting in the matter of 
 grain, in the matter of other vegetable products for food (including 
 preparations), i.e., fresh fruit, dried fruits, &c., the imports have 
 increased from £468,000 in 1881 to £552,000 in 1890, and the 
 amount retained for home use from £328,000 to £552,000 in the 
 same time. The necessity for importing for home use, however, 
 is now likely to become less and less, for, while the area under 
 cultivation for orchards and gardens has been stationary, and 
 sometimes even decreased during the three years from 1887 to 
 1889, in 1890 there were 1,714 acres approved of for the bonus 
 for planting fruit trees, and this, of course, only represents a 
 portion of the increased area taken in. In the Mildura irrigation 
 settlement alone there are about 6,000 acres devoted to vines or 
 fruit trees, and it is a valuable object-lesson to show what can be 
 done by scientific irrigation and intense culture. 
 
 No doubt but we are rapidly approaching the time when we 
 shall be able to supply our own wants with regard to fruit, and 
 have a surplus for others ; and, seeing that many of those who 
 are engaging in this industry are novices in the art of husbandry, 
 and that an evident desire is abroad for obtaining the highest 
 practical skill and the best scientific knowledge in the department 
 of horticulture, the necessity for this school and the timely estab- 
 lishment of it will be acknowledged by all. 
 
 And even the farmer of the future — in Victoria, at least — will 
 require to grow a greater variety of products than hitherto, in 
 order to survive the competition of the Indian ryot and the Rus- 
 sian peasant, in wheat-growing at any rate. This means that a 
 general training in horticulture is desirable for all agriculturists 
 who do not wish to be left behind in the march of progress, and 
 that the farmer would do well, where the conditions are suitable, 
 to become a fruit-grower in addition. This school, therefore, 
 supplies a decided want in the education of the farmer, and a 
 term of at least one year might profitably be spent here. 
 
 Inducements to go to the Countet. 
 We have heard a deal of late of the flocking of the population 
 to the cities causing a congested state of affairs there, so that we 
 
have overcrowded cities and towns, while the country is crying 
 aloud for labour. There are many and complex reasons for such 
 a social condition, and it is not to be remedied at once or by any 
 one specific, but certainly the establishment of institutions such 
 as this, where the practical as well as the scientific training will 
 be acquired, which will equip our young men for successfully 
 cultivating the soil and making it yield its best results, will help 
 towards that end. 
 
 I know no better means of inducing those who are dissatisfied 
 with their city surroundings, or those who are looking around for 
 a healthful and profitable occupation, to engage in fruit-growing 
 and kindred pursuits than by affording them the opportunity, such 
 as this school offers, of acquiring the most approved methods of 
 cultivation and the necessary knowledge before entering upon the 
 cares and responsibilities of an orchard on their own account. 
 The question is often asked, and variously answered, "What are 
 we to do with our boys ? " I would reply that for many of them 
 the best thing to do would be to send them to the School of Horti- 
 culture, where they can qualify themselves for an honorable and 
 profitable career. 
 
 Scheme of Instruction. 
 
 How it is proposed to carry out this necessary and opportune 
 scheme of horticultural education may be learned in detail from 
 the prospectus of the school and the syllabus of instruction, but 
 I may just draw attention to the main features of it. " Practice 
 with Science " is the motto of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
 England, and is the principle on which this school is to be con- 
 ducted. 
 
 Under the guidance of Mr. Neilson, the experienced curator, 
 students will prepare the soil, then plant, manure, prune, and cul- 
 tivate the various fruit trees and vegetables grown here. The 
 fruits will also be gathered and stored by them, and packed either 
 for the home or foreign markets. The raising of nursery stock 
 will likewise be attended to, and the general management of an 
 orchard wUl be learned under the personal superintendence of Mr. 
 Neilson, 
 
 The nomenclature or naming of fruits will likewise be attended 
 to, and, generally speaking, pomology, or that branch of know- 
 ledge which deals with fruit trees and fruit, will here be taught 
 so thoroughly and practically that every student may be expected 
 to distinguish himself in that particular branch in after life. 
 
 But as man ought not to live by bread alone, ought not merely 
 to dig and plant and reap, and thus become a mere hewer of wood 
 and drawer of water, so it is necessary, absolutely necessary at 
 the present time, that he should be trained in the principles, as 
 well as in the practice of his art, that he should have scientific 
 
10 
 
 knowledge as well as practical skill. At present the scientific 
 course is not very extensive, but by-and-by, as the school extends 
 and expands, the scientific wiU keep pace with the practical, and 
 not merely the subjects of study, but the extent to which they 
 are studied, will widen out, as students pass into their second and 
 third years. 
 
 Agricultural science in its relation to horticulture will be 
 taught, and will deal with such fundamental and important sub- 
 jects as soils, tillage, drainage, irrigation, and manures ; and the 
 insect foes of the orchard will be attended to as may be considered 
 desirable by the Government Entomologist. 
 
 Botany in its bearings upon horticulture will also be dealt with 
 under the three principal headings of Vegetable Physiology, or 
 the healthy life and growth of plants and the conditions suitable 
 thereto ; Systematic Botany, or the arranging and classifying of 
 plants in their proper families, &c. ; and Vegetable Pathology, or 
 the diseases of plants. 
 
 Horticultural School for the Good of the CoatMUNiiT. 
 
 But I may digress here for a little to point out that the Horti- 
 cultural School will not merely exist for and benefit those inside 
 its walls, but it will prove an educative and improving influence 
 for the entire horticultural community. The school possesses in 
 the experimental gardens attached to it a means of education not 
 only for students who may attend there, but for the fruit-growing 
 and gardening community at large. 
 
 No doubt horticulture is being specially attended to in the 
 sister colonies, as is evidenced by the decision in New South Wales 
 to appoint a thoroughly competent pomologist ; the labours of the 
 AgriculturalBureau in South Australia ; and the project in Queens- 
 land of instructing pupils in horticulture by gentlemen connected 
 with the Botanic and Acclimatisation Gardens ; yet, as already 
 stated, it has been reserved for Victoria, to open the first School of 
 Horticulture, devoted wholly and solely to instruction in practical 
 and scientific work. 
 
 Such places are of great practical value, and have become a 
 necessity of our time. They afford the means whereby the 
 teachings of science are translated into the language of ordinary 
 life and put into practice. They supply that " connecting link" 
 between science and practice which bridges the gulf between the 
 two. 
 
 The place that science should hold in a scheme of agricultural 
 or horticultural education is not yet definitely agreed upon, but it 
 is generally acknowledged that a scientific training, added to prac- 
 tical experience: gained in the field, is necessary in the keen com- 
 petition of modern Kfe, " Oiir theory here la that it is better to 
 
11 
 
 educate farmers to some knowledge of science than scientists to- 
 some knowledge of farming " is a practical and common-sense 
 view of the matter. The farmer or fruit-grower does certain 
 things in his work, and he goes to science to explain to him the 
 reason why, and to help him perhaps to do them better and to 
 greater profit. By reducing science to practice in an experimental 
 field or garden, science is then expressed in terms of daily life, 
 and the grower can follow and profit by it, but in its abstract 
 form as accurate knowledge he fails to get the benefit from it. 
 The multiplication of such experimental gardens, if the experi- 
 ments are properly conducted, is simply so many scientific lessons 
 conveyed in a language which the fruit-grower can readily under- 
 stand and appreciate. 
 
 In Mr. Neilson's department the merits of the different varieties 
 of fruit trees in the market may be tested, so that growers may 
 know the best kind to use, making due allowance for the different 
 districts. And this is particularly important at the present time, 
 when tea and other travellers are turning their attention to tree 
 peddling. In several districts I have visited the tea agent has 
 been about, and effected sales at a high price, while no guarantee 
 was given that the trees supplied were what they were represented 
 to be. The next step wiU be that the country will be overrun 
 with seed-mongers, who may provide a very inferior article, unless 
 the schoolmaster is abroad to enlighten the buyers. It is to be 
 hoped that the kind of knowledge scattered from this horticultural 
 centre will soon cause the "tree peddlers," like Othello, to find 
 their occupation gone. Experiments will also be made in hybrid- 
 izing, cross-fertilizing, and selection, whereby improved varieties 
 of various kinds may he raised. Cross-fertilization takes place 
 between flowers of the same plant or between flowers of different 
 plants of the same species, whereas hybridization is a farther ex- 
 tension of this process, or a crossing of the flowers of different 
 species. The gardener has already largely used it for combining 
 desirable qualities in the same plant. 
 
 Experiments also as to the different and best modes of cultiva- 
 tion, propagating, and pruning, as well as in the application of 
 manures, and even the effects of irrigation will be tested when 
 water is available. 
 
 In my own department the effect of various remedies on diseases 
 of plants are being tried, and this is a most important use to which 
 the experimental gardens may be applied. Disease, like the poor, 
 we have always with us, and here test experiments can be carried 
 out under personal control, the results of which wiU be available 
 for the colony at large. Of course, we do not wish and do not 
 expect to have a great variety of disease to deal with here, but in 
 different districts there are experimental plots, as we might call 
 them, where the owners are willingly carrying out experiments. 
 
12 
 
 under my direction. Tlius in raspberry-growing, strawberry - 
 growing, and peach-growing districts the diseases belonging to 
 each are being treated with different re-agents to find out the 
 cheapest and most efiective remedy. 
 
 There is also a plot here in which various remedies will be tried 
 for the treatment of rust in wheat. This may seem at first sight 
 as having little bearing on horticulture, but when I tell you that 
 rust in wheat, peach and plum leaf rust, and celery rust are all 
 due to fungi belonging to the same genus (Puccinia), but of 
 different species, you will see that remedies found effectual for the 
 one may also be useful for the other. 
 
 The museum is another educational agency which has not been 
 overlooked, and, although as yet in its infancy, it will be gradually 
 extended. I hope before long to have displayed, in an attractive 
 form, specimens of the various diseases to which our fruit trees, 
 fruit, and vegetables are most liable, with the most reliable infor- 
 mation as to remedies accompanying them so that growers may 
 recognise the disease, when it appears, and apply the remedy 
 accordingly. 
 
 New implements and inventions of interest to the horticulturist 
 will also find a place here, and I would just call your attention to 
 the latest addition — the Strawsonizer, which, as a distributor of 
 liquids or powders for the destruction of insect and fungus pests, as 
 a broadcaster of the various chemical fertilizers, and even as a sower 
 of seeds of various kinds with great regularity, is recognised to be 
 the most efficient combination machine we possess at the present 
 time. 
 
 There is another instrument— a patent seed germinator — which 
 is found to be very useful in testing the germinating power and 
 vitality of the different kinds of seeds. This is a subject in which 
 the students here will be exercised. Mr. Ellery has likewise pro- 
 mised a complete set of meteorological instruments, and the 
 students, under Mr. Neilson's direction, will watch and record the 
 varying phases of the weather and its effects on vegetation. The 
 desire on the part of the board of advice to make the benefits of 
 the school as largely available as possible is seen in the fact that 
 the lectures are free to all interested in horticultural pursuits, and 
 «ven the ladies are invited. 
 
 Women Students. 
 It is not to be imagined, however, that Victoria takes the lead 
 in this respect, for at the Swanley Horticultural College, Kent, 
 a ladies' branch has been opened. We learn from a recent issue of 
 the Queen newspaper that although this college is still in its 
 infancy, having only been two years in existence, already the ex- 
 periment of providing for women students is being tried. A 
 modern villa near the college has been neatly furnished, and 
 
13 
 
 placed under a lady superintendent, where the women students 
 board. They have an eight hours day, five for practical and 
 three for theoretical work. The subjects of study include 
 chemistry, botany, physics, zoology, including entomology, and 
 the theory of horticulture, and there is a handsome lecture-hall 
 where the men and women, of course, study together. The inclu- 
 sive fees for a year's training are from £70 to £80, but arrange- 
 ments are made whereby ladies can give the work a few weeks' 
 trial, and see how it agrees with them, for a weekly sum. It 
 remains to be seen whether women in sufficient numbers will be 
 found able and willing to undertake the general work of an orchard, 
 although, no doubt, there are certain branches, such as flower- 
 gardening, fruit-preserving, and scent-making in which women 
 might excel. I am in communication with the principal of the 
 college, and the novel experiment will undoubtedly be watched 
 with interest. Nevertheless, the board deserve credit for taking 
 this step, and it ought to meet with a hearty response. Country 
 horticulturists, when in town, are also invited, but I must confess 
 that when a systematic course of study is followed, as will be done 
 here, attendance at occasional lectures, say in the middle of some 
 subject, is apt to prove rather unsatisfactory and disappointing. 
 This suggests, however, that a short continuous and connected 
 course of lectures might be arranged, say six, at certain seasons 
 of the year when absence from the orchard would be least missed. 
 The course could either be on one subject and by one lecturer, or 
 on a variety of subjects, and various experts of the Department 
 could take part in them. The subjects might be similar to those 
 chosen by the British Fruit-growers' Association in response to 
 the invitation of members of the County Council, London, to be 
 lectured on in any part of Great Britain, viz. : — 
 
 1. The Principles of Vegetable Life. 
 
 2. Soil — Constitution and Management. 
 
 3. The Culture of Apples and Pears. 
 
 4. The Culture of Stone Fruits. 
 
 5. The Culture of Small and Bush Fruits. 
 
 6. Gathering, Packing, Marketing, and Preserving Fruits. 
 
 This work is already partially done by the experts of the Depart- 
 ment, who visit and lecture in various districts, but the idea 
 intended to be conveyed here is to give the fruit-growers an 
 opportunity once a year of getting the benefit of the best and 
 ripest experience, in a connected form, on some important matters 
 bearing on their industry. 
 
 But this is only one of the various ways in which the horti- 
 cultural school may be utilized for the benefit of the community, 
 as I hope that occasional lectures may be delivered here that will 
 benefit even the denizens of our cities or suburbs who cultivate a 
 
14 
 
 -flower garden for pleasure and, not for profit. Thus, in connexion 
 ■with my lectures on the "Principles of Agriculture," at the 
 Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, I secured the services for 
 occasional lectures of such men as the Curator of the Eoyal 
 Botanic Gardens there, who gave us, I remember, a thoroughly- 
 practical lecture on " Plants Suitable for Boom Decoration." 
 
 Botany in Eelation to Hoktioultuee. 
 
 Coming now to the special subject on which I proposed to 
 speak, and that with which I have to deal in the course of 
 lectures here, viz. : — Botany in its relation to horticulture. This 
 relation is a very intimate one, and the place botany will hold in 
 the course of instruction here will be to enable students to under- 
 stand the why and the wherefore of the various operations they 
 perform. 
 
 We sometimes speak of the science of horticulture as dealing 
 mainly with the varia,tion of plants under cultivation and selection, 
 but botany will be regarded by us as the science, and horticulture 
 as the art, which is just botany applied and practised in the 
 orchard and garden. It is not intended to turn out botanists 
 here, but practical horticulturists, and so the subject will always 
 be treated with that end in view, as a means to an end. The 
 subject of botany in its bearing upon horticulture is a very wide 
 one, and would require much more time than can be devoted to it 
 now in order to do full justice to it, so I will just confine myself, 
 in the first place, to the consideration of the value of botany as a 
 means of general training ; then, in the next place, its utihty to 
 those who intend to cultivate the soil, and to reap the fruits of 
 the earth with the best possible results. 
 
 Value of Botany as a Training. 
 
 The general advantages of studying botany may be briefly 
 stated as a training in accurate observation, methodical description, 
 and classification. 
 
 To observe accurately seems a very simple matter, and yet how 
 few there are who can be implicitly trusted in their observations. 
 The eye sees what it brings with it the power of seeing, and 
 this power has to be developed and trained. I know of no science 
 which can surpass that of botany in this matter of accurate and 
 exact observation. In describing a plant or part of a plant— it 
 may be a leaf, a flower, or a seed — you are expected so to picture 
 it in words, so to present it to the mind of another, that he or she 
 from that word-picture could make an accurate drawing of the 
 object. 
 
 This power of accurate, exact, and careful observation is ^ 
 valuable one, and well worth the trouble of acquiring, not only 
 in the business of horticulture, but in the ordinary affairs of life. 
 
15 
 
 In the gardens there will he many opportunities for the exercise 
 •of this quality, in watching the germination of seeds, the develop- 
 ment of leaves and flowers, the fertilization of flowers hy hees 
 and other insects. But, above all, in conducting experiments is 
 this watchfulness and care and scientific judgment necessary. 
 
 After observing carefully and accurately, one has to describe 
 what one sees, and for methodical description botany is acknow- 
 ledged to hold a high place. Description of plants has to be 
 eminently methodical, in order to leave out nothing of importance, 
 as well as to state the facts in the order of their importance. To 
 such an extent, however, has this minuteness of description been 
 carried in botany that some have overstepped the bounds of 
 common sense, and caused the language of botany to become a 
 jargon of sesquipedalian terms. One remedy for this would be to 
 pay greater attention than has hitherto been the case to the uses 
 of the diflierent parts described, and associating structure with 
 use, as in the varied forms and arrangements of flowers, there 
 would be less mere dealing with words than with the things they 
 represent. To realize in a word that the tree is a living body, 
 feeding and growing, maturing and multiplying, decaying and 
 dying, and subject to the laws of living things. Names we must 
 have, for a technical language is as necessary to the botanist as 
 the terms used by the workman in his special trade, but we must 
 make the language plain by appealing constantly to the things them- 
 selves. And in that sense the course of botany here will be 
 thoroughly practical, seeing that we have not only the resources 
 of these gardens to fall back upon, but of the Botanic Gardens 
 and University G-ardens as well, and last, but not least, the 
 ■extensive collection of dried specimens of Australian plants 
 kindly presented to the school by Baron von Mueller, the 
 Government Botanist. 
 
 In the matter of systematic arrangement, botany again gives a 
 valuable training. Science has been said to be the detection of 
 identity, and classification is the placing together of those things 
 which resemble one another and the separation of those which 
 di£fer. In botany, resemblance does not always lie on the 
 surface — in fact, often "things are not what they seem," and the 
 detection of unity in variety and variety in seeming unity exercises 
 the judgment and enlightens the mind. 
 
 Utility of Botany in connexion with Hortioultuke. 
 
 While what I have said with reference to the study of botany 
 would apply to its being included in the curriculum of any school 
 or college as a means of education and training, I will now 
 endeavour to show how useful and essential its study is in a 
 school of horticulture. 
 
16 
 
 1. Vegetable Physiology. — A knowledge of vegetable physi- 
 ology, or of the healthy life and growth of plants, is of prime 
 importance to the fruit and vegetable grower. How the roots and 
 leaves take in their nourishment, the one from the soil and the 
 other from the air ; how healthy root and leaf action is best 
 promoted ; what substances are taken in from the soil and air 
 respectively, and how the resulting sap is best conveyed to its 
 destination, when and where it is most wanted ; how the flowers 
 are fertilized and fruit produced, so that where nature fails science 
 may step in and often prevent the barrenness of the flower ; the 
 principle of the different modes of propagation ; the effects of 
 stock on scion ; the theory of pruning ; the conditions of 
 germination, and the duration of the vitality of seeds — these are 
 a few of the questions to which vegetable physiology supplies an 
 answer, and the proper understanding of which enables the 
 grower to insure and promote a healthy and vigorous growth, and 
 the attention to which may often mean all the difference between 
 a luxuriant healthy crop and a miserably poor one. 
 
 Hybridizing, as well as cross-fertilizing and selection, are also 
 very important from a horticultural point of view, and may result 
 n the production of improved varieties. 
 
 The anatomy or structure of plants will also be studied, but 
 only in connexion with their physiology or function, for the use 
 of a part is the main thing for us to learn, and the structure 
 explains the action. We must not treat plants, as is too often 
 done, as mere bits of mechanism, but as living and growing and 
 reproducing organisms, endowed with vital activity. 
 
 It will be necessary for the proper understanding of plant-life 
 that a certain amount of chemical knowledge be imparted, such 
 as the composition of the air, the water, and the soil, and various 
 vegetable products. In the meantime this will be given in con- 
 nexion with the lectures on botany, and as far as practicable by 
 means of illustrative experiments. But chemistry is such a 
 fundamental study, treating of the constitution of "matter, and so 
 necessary for an intelligible explanation of various phenomena, 
 that its introduction into the curriculum of study as a special 
 subject can only be a matter of time. 
 
 2. Systematic Botany. — A knowledge of the classification of 
 plants is also exceedingly useful in enabling us to recognise 
 plants naturally related, and thus probably having many proper- 
 ties in common. This is well seen in the process of grafting, 
 where plants of the same family only unite and grow, and in the 
 production of hybrids, which are the result of crossing one 
 species with another. Hence the utility of being familiar with 
 the affinities of plants and their arrangement into natural groups, 
 In dealing with weeds, for instance, which, for our present pur- 
 pose may be regarded as plants out of place, it is important to 
 
17 
 
 know the families to which they belong, and thereby something 
 of their characters — their peculiarities of growth and reproduc- 
 tion — in order the more effectually to adopt proper measures for 
 their extermination. 
 
 3. Vegetable Pathology. — In spite of all our care and attention, 
 sometimes indeed because of it, disease will appear in our orchards 
 and Tegetable gardens. And if it were only for coping success- 
 fully with' disease, a knowledge of vegetable physiology, or the 
 conditions of healthy growth, might be recommended, for in order 
 to understand disease properly, which is a departure from the 
 normal condition, you must understand health, the condition from 
 which that departure has been made. There can be no question 
 of the supreme importance to the fruit-grower of his being 
 prepared to deal with the various diseases which threaten him. 
 Our climate, which is so favorable to vegetable growth, is like- 
 wise pre-eminently suitable for the various forms of fungi which 
 prey upon our fruit trees and fruit, and there is an absence of 
 that continuous and excessive cold of other countries which tends 
 to keep in check both insect and fungus pests. 
 
 This department of vegetable pathology is one which will be 
 specially and practically attended to here. Not only have we 
 specimens of the various diseases affecting fruit trees and fruit, 
 which will be used for illustration, but any such will be treated 
 in the gardens, and the best-known measures for their prevention 
 or mitigation practically demonstrated, in conjunction with Mr. 
 Neilson. 
 
 But in order to apply the remedy we must first study the 
 disease. The Premier, on a recent occasion, referring to a serious 
 disease of the body-politic, used language which is also very 
 appropriate here. He said — "If we desire to efiect a cure, the 
 first thing is to ascertain the nature, the history, and the extent 
 of the disease ; and then, having done so, to apply the proper 
 remedy, if it can be found.'' We seek to find out the cause of 
 the disease, and having done so, to remove it, if possible, and 
 thereby effect a cure. 
 
 In studying the fungi causing disease it is absolutely necessary 
 to use the microscope, and therefore every one attending this 
 school will be trained in the use of that instrument. I hope that 
 the day is not far distant when every horticultural society will 
 possess one for the use of its members, and I am pleased to be 
 able to state that I was asked to choose a microscope for a horti- 
 cultural society a short time ago, intended to be presented as a 
 mark of respect to their energetic secretary. 
 
 Knowing the disease, which can often only be accurately 
 revealed by the microscope, we are provided with the means in 
 many cases of dealing with it. Great advances have been made 
 in remedial measures within the last few years, and when the 
 
 826. B 
 
18 
 
 dreaded potato disease has at last been successfuUj treated we 
 are encouraged to experiment with other diseases, in order to dis- 
 cover a remedy. The day is now past when such inflictions are 
 regarded as dispensations of Providence, something to be endured 
 and not to be cured. 
 
 I have already referred to the fact that the whole subject of 
 botany will be properly graduated, and the more advanced topics 
 reserved for the latter part of the course. Among these will be 
 included such subjects as the geographical distribution of plants, 
 and the origin of cultivated plants. Such studies will be useful 
 in showing the natural conditions under which certain kinds of 
 plants grow, where they are likely to thrive here, and the kind of 
 treatment most suitable to the peculiarities derived from their 
 environment. 
 
 In the introduction and cultivation of new products this 
 knowledge forms a valuable guide as to the best mode of treat- 
 ment and management. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to show very briefly, but still I trust 
 successfully, that scientific knowledge may be brought to bear on 
 the art of horticulture with the happiest and most beneficial 
 results, that such knowledge is a power not only to relieve the 
 tedium and monotony of mere mechanical labour, but to invest it 
 with an interest which it would not otherwise possess, to increase 
 the charm of rural pursuits, to suggest improvements and modi- 
 fications where otherwise dull routine would bear sway, and thus 
 to produce ' the result which is, or ought to be, the reward of 
 faithful and intelligent toil, a bountiful return of the fruits of the 
 earth. 
 
 The Horticultural School is now about to be fairly launched on 
 its career of usefulness, and may be likened to a noble ship about 
 to set forth on what we all hope will be a prosperous voyage, 
 coramanded as it is by a veteran in the service. Carrying out the 
 simile, I am sure the words of the poet express the feelings of 
 us all on this auspicious occasion : — 
 
 Sail forth into the sea, O ship ! 
 
 Through wind and wave, right onward steer ; 
 The nioistened eye, the trembling lip, 
 
 Are not the signs of doubt or fear. 
 Sail oh, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
 Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee ; 
 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
 
 Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
 Are all with thee, are all with thee. 
 
19 
 
 OUR INDIGENOUS PLANTS IN RELATION 
 TO HORTICULTURE. 
 
 Bt Baeon ton Muellbe, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.R.S., etc., 
 
 GOVBENMENT BOTANIST. 
 {2nd September, 1892.) 
 
 A free discourse was delivered by Baron von Mueller, initiatory 
 to the lectures, given in the College of Horticulture at Burnley, 
 on the 2nd September, 1892, at which address besides the students 
 were also present D. Martin, Esq., the Secretary of the Agricul- 
 tural Department, the Hon, Wm. Anderson, Joseph Harris, Esq., 
 M.L.A., and several other distinguished ruralists and friends of 
 theirs. Baron von Mueller commenced in some graceful wording 
 to allude .to the facilities, which in so enlightened a spirit the 
 Government had offered through the Minister of Agriculture to 
 incipient horticulturists under the principal care of the Superin- 
 tendent of the Horticultural Gardens and throligh special teachers. 
 He referred to the horticultural career as one of the happiest 
 most prosperous and healthy in life under most circumstances; 
 further he dwelt on the ease, with which rural pursuits also in 
 this direction could be carried out in a winterless clime like ours, 
 as compared to the difficulties to be overcome by the length and 
 severity of the winters in the home-countries, indeed we here 
 having almost two springs annually, the one ushered in by the 
 first greening of the grass about Easter ; the other commencing 
 some months later, when the orchard-trees burst into bloom. The 
 Baron referred further to the very ample scope of horticulture 
 here, as from a so much vaster number of plants could here be 
 selected for outdoor-culture than it was possible in the countries 
 of our forefathers. Indeed, he said, in the milder regions of 
 Victoria almost any plants of the globe might be reared except 
 those of the equatorial zone, added to which was the blessing, 
 that rural lands were obtainable in the cheapest of all possibilities. 
 In the continuation of his remarks he pointed'out the advantage, 
 which studious horticulturists here had in becoming acquainted 
 with the exact chemical contents of soils and of various manuring 
 substances, the relative action of these, their respective adapta- 
 bility to various forms of plant-life, and the accuracy with 
 which the adequate nutrition could be offered in each instance. 
 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 The Baron exhibited in connexion with these observations various 
 gypsum-preparations from extensive beds of this mineral, as pre- 
 pared in a Melbourne-factory from material obtained near the 
 south-coast of Australia and the Murray Eiver. As a particular 
 horticultural resource, almost latent, yet replete with deep local 
 interests, he regarded the methodic gathering of our most orna- 
 mental plants for our own gardens, so that every Australian might 
 become more intimately and extensively acquainted with the flora 
 of his native land. He showed pressed dried specimens of some 
 most gorgeous plants, particularly from extra-tropic Western 
 Australia, which never had yet reached even any conservatory in 
 Britain or elsewhere, among such plants of extraordinary beauty 
 the Verticordia oculat.a, which as having its flowers embellished 
 with minute feathers, reminding one of those of the smallest 
 humming bird. He thought that the export trade of seeds of 
 ornamental plants, indigenous to this part of the world, ought to 
 assume dimensions more on a mercantile scale. He spoke of 
 the 300 kinds of Australian Acacias, some of which were the 
 main glory of the glasshouses in the first half of this century 
 much inore than now, he having greeted them himself as the 
 harbingers of the spring throughout the earlier years of his life' 
 in European gardens. 
 
 In speaking of scenic culture here, he emphasized', how we 
 were envied in the colder lands by being able to surround oar 
 dwellings with the grandeur of vegetation, which inspired some 
 of the greatest of poets such as Byron and Goethe with rapturous 
 efEusions, when they beheld on a then difficult Journey to Italy 
 the laurel, the myrtle and the olive in their natural grandeur j 
 but he pointed out, that, to this colony was not denied the mag- 
 nificence of alpine scenery with its own charming vegetation, 
 which for continental Australia exists only in Victoria and New 
 South Wales. This brought Baron von Mueller to touch briefly 
 on culinary garden-culture and the advantages, which our wide 
 range of clime afEords for it. He instanced, how the London- 
 market was earliest in the season supplied with kitchen-vegetable- 
 and orchard-fruits from the Channel-Islands, and latest from the 
 Scottish Highlands. The railways, he remarked, approached also 
 here the Alps already, and we could have vegetables and fruits 
 now brought to the metropolis from our sub-alpine valleys, after 
 the supply from the lowlands had ceased for several weeks. 
 This, he meant, was all the more significant, as the establishment 
 of sub-alpine farms in our Snowy Mountains by Scotch High- 
 landers, Scandinavians and Swiss would enable the prospecting 
 parties of miners much more to hold out in their searches, so that 
 much of auriferous country in our Alps could be far better tested, 
 if re-provisioning, all required to be done through pack-horses now, 
 could be effected from near places in our highlands, so far as 
 
21 
 
 "turnips, cabbage, beans, carrots, barley, rye, oats, fowls, eggs and 
 -much other food is concerned, that can be raised even in coldest 
 climes. 
 
 He directed attention finally to the facilities, with which water, 
 without expenditure by mere gravitation was obtainable from the 
 Alps, and how by diverting water of the rivulets or by slightly 
 tapping natural reservoirs or reaches, new flow for irrigation 
 could be secured, — mitigating thus by the least exertion and out- 
 lay the dangers of floods in the lowlands, and pointing out, that 
 in the cooler regions also the invasion of all kinds of horticultural 
 crops was least to be feared through destructive fungs and insects. 
 
 In conclusion Baron von Mueller congratulated the students on 
 the splendid prospects before them, which circumspectriess and 
 experience of the rulers of the land had opened up ; and he felt 
 sure, that they would derive therefrom all the anticipated benefits 
 in their own practical life, and would have cause ever to be grate- 
 ful for the boons offered to them by this first Horticultural 
 iCoUege established in the great Austral Land ! 
 
22 
 
 UNDEVELOPED SOURCES OF WEALTH. 
 
 Bt Joseph Haeeis, M.L.A. 
 
 (19th May, 1893.) 
 
 The paper I am now about to read to you is not of a sensational 
 cliaracter ; it will simply deal with a few subjects which I think 
 deserving of attention, and may prove to be of some value either ■ 
 to yourselves or to others. The title of my paper may be given 
 as "Undeveloped Sources of Wealth." I admit this to be a high- 
 sounding and grandiloquent phrase, and may lead you to anticipate 
 something much greater than will be realized by the tim6 my 
 paper is finished. 
 
 I have not discovered a speedy way of wiping out our National 
 Debt, nor an instant method of at once giving employment to the 
 thousands of idle men now in Melbourne ; but I trust that what 
 I say may have the effect of causing you and others to think how 
 best we may add to the general wealth of the colony by growing 
 those plants and trees, and manufacturing their pi'oducts, which 
 may be readily produced, and which at present we have to 
 import from other places. The f^ct that pur School of Horticul- 
 ture is now full, that we have even more pupils than the Board 
 originally intended taking, is a sign, I think, that our fellow 
 colonists thoroughly recognise that it is absolutely necessary we 
 should give more attention to the cultivation of the soil than we 
 have done. 
 
 Owing partly to the fewness of our people as compared with 
 older countries, to our distance from the great centres of popular 
 tion, and to the comparative high price of labour, our manufac- 
 turing industries have not been the universal success at one time 
 anticipated, and on all hands it is recognised that to " mother 
 earth " we must chiefly look for our permanent prosperity. Not 
 only in these colonies, but in England, America, and elsewhere, 
 considerable attention has been given of late to horticulture and 
 agriculture. 
 
 RoyaL commissions and select committees have been inquiring 
 how best to increase fertility of the land and restore prosperity to 
 the tillers of the soil. Many of the leading statesmen of the 
 mother country 'have taken a keen interest in this subject, such 
 men as Gladstone, Lord Derby, Sir J. Lubbock, Jesse Collings, 
 and Lord Sudely have spared time to devote to this matter. The 
 latter gentleman a few years ago put his faith in horticulture into- 
 
23 
 
 practice by planting large areas of fruit trees ; 100 acres of straw- 
 berries, 60 acres of raspberries, a quarter of a million of black 
 currants, nearly the same number of gooseberries were included 
 in the 700 or 800 acres this gentleman devoted to fruit culture. 
 
 In America, about 30 miles from San Francisco, in the heart of 
 one of the largest fruit-growing districts in the world, has recently 
 been opened the Leland Stanford Jr. University of California, 
 with a first endowment of £4,000,000. The endowment being 
 ample no fees are necessary, the education being practically free. 
 Students have only to arrange for board, clothes, and books. 
 Belonging to the university there are about 40,000 acres of 
 excellent land, about 1,100 of which are already in bearing as 
 vineyards, a considerable tract being orchard land. Immediately 
 surrounding the university buildings there are 8,000 acres of rich 
 land ; upon this is already located one of the finest stock- 
 breeding farms in America. Something like 1,000 acres of this 
 tract will be planted as orchard, and about 100 acres will be used 
 for illustrative horticultural work of various kinds ; 250 acres 
 will be devoted to landscape gardening, and about 100 acres to 
 botanical purposes. This is the first university in the world to 
 elevate horticultural education to its true place of dignity among 
 the arts and sciences by making it one of the leading features of 
 the institution. 
 
 You are all aware that old England has its colleges of horti- 
 culture, and at the one at Swanley they take in lady students. 
 The women's branch there has now been in existence about two 
 years, and so far has been a success. These nurserymaids — not 
 in the domestic but in the horticultural sense — are trained in 
 fruit, flower, and vegetable culture. They are also taught jam 
 and sauce making, and other kindred subjects. The last report 
 of this college states "that several applications had been received 
 for women, both as head and single gardeners, and in one case to 
 take entire charge of' the conservatories and green-houses. This 
 is what is occurring in crowded- England, and may never occur 
 here, and I only refer to the fact as indicating another outlet for 
 female labour in a congested population. Bu.t I must refrain from 
 saying more as to what is being done in other countries, but will 
 come nearer home. Not only is our own Horticultural School 
 full, but our agricultural colleges are always full, and to get 
 admission to either Dookie or Longerenong application must be 
 made months in advance. Greater facilities must be afiorded our 
 young people to learn both horticulture and agriculture, and I 
 think some rudimentary instruction in these subjects should be 
 given in some of our country schools. 
 
 The profession of horticulture is a noble one — no science more 
 healthful or pleasurable. Agriculture and horticulture are, with- 
 out doubt, the two most impprtant industries under the sun, 
 
24 
 
 inasmuch as they deal with the food supply of the whole world 
 Horticulture may he considered the parent of agriculture in one 
 sense, for it determines upon a small scale the value of those 
 principles upon which a more extended cultivation of the soil 
 depends. No art demands a wider range of natural and experi- 
 mental knowledge than the practice of horticulture. Like many 
 other sciences it is never learnt ; there is always something fresh 
 to he picked up, some new and improved method of culture, 
 whereby quality and quantity are improved, some new variety of 
 vegetable, fruit, plant, or tree to be tested. It is the most ancient 
 of all industries. Shakspeare makes his grave-digger declare 
 there are " no ancient gentlemen but gardeners," and since it wa.s 
 the calling of our first parent, so. will the last man be dependent 
 on the gardener's energies. No business combines so much of the 
 utile et dulce as gardening. By the sweat of his face mankind 
 is fed, by the taste he exhibits the earth is beautified. 
 
 Fortunately for our horticultural efforts we have in Victoria a fine 
 genial climate and fertile soil, we can grow the currant of G-reece, 
 the olive of Italy, the lemon of Portugal, and the raisin of Spain 
 as well in some parts as the countries I have mentioned — this 
 is an indisputable fact. The gentlemen (leading grocers of the 
 city) who acted as judges of dried fruits at our late Intercolonial 
 Wine, Grain, and Fruit Exhibition stated that some of the Zante 
 currants, muscatel raisins, and prunes were of the very highest 
 order of merit, and a few samples even superior to any imported ; 
 this fact is very encouraging, and should lead, and no doubt will 
 lead, to extensive areas being placed under these crops. Now, when 
 we remember that we annually import some seven to eight million 
 pounds weight of currants and raisins alone, we can see what an 
 opening there is for the extensive' cultivation of these fruits. In 
 addition to these two kinds we import something like a million and 
 a half pounds weight of other kinds of dried fruits, some of which, 
 for instance, figs and prunes, can well be grown here. We also 
 import considerable quantities of almonds, walnuts, and other nuts, 
 and these we can grow in some part or other of the colony as well 
 as in any part of the world. We Victorians are often boasting of 
 the enormous wealth of our natural resources, but these resources 
 must be developed and not permitted to lie dormant in the soil. 
 Our farmers tell us that the growing of our great staple product, 
 wheat, barely pays, and that a smaller yield, unless better prices 
 were obtained, would mean disaster. We have yet a few million 
 acres available for wheat-growing in the mallee, where land can 
 be rolled, cleared,- and ploughed at a very low cost, and our wheat 
 yields wjll doubtless, unless serious droughts or other calamity 
 ensue, increase annually for some years to come. My main object 
 is to direct attention to a ■ few plants and trees which are not 
 ordinarily cultivated in the colony, but which may probably be 
 
25 
 
 grown to advantage, not of course to the neglect of others -which 
 are known to be profitable^ but as adjunctSj some perhaps at first 
 experimentally only. To a lover of his profession, there is an 
 immense amount of pleasure derivable from testing and experi- 
 menting upon new plants and novel industries. Nothing would 
 be easier than to make up a list of exotic plants and trees which 
 would grow in some part or other of the colony, but we are at 
 once met with the high cost of production as compared with many 
 other countries, and if we are to engage profitably with many of 
 these it is inevitable that the price of our rural labour must be 
 reduced. 
 
 I have no desire to be thought a " paper " gardener — one who 
 can sit down and write fluently on subjects he has no real practical 
 knowledge of. I have many a time smiled at letters and articles 
 which have occasionally appeared in our public press recommend- 
 ing the cultivation of this plant or of that ; scores, aye hundreds, of 
 plants of economic value will grow with us, but the main, question 
 we have to deal with is, can they be successfully and profitably 
 grown here ? This is the crux of the whole thing ; it is simply a 
 matter of £ s. d. 
 
 I have seen the cultivation of the tea plant recommended. We 
 all know this plant will grow well in numerous places — ^for the 
 past dozen years I have bad it flowering and seeding at Mount 
 Martha ; but to grow the plant to perfection, as I have seen it in 
 the hilly districts of Ceylon, you must have a yearly rainfall of 
 90 to 120 inches, so that the warm, moist, and steamy atmosphere 
 will force the growth of leaves, and even if our climate were ever 
 so favorable we could not compete with Coolie labour at the 
 miserable price at which it is paid. A few years ago it was 
 thought that that valuable quinine plant, the cinchona,.would pay 
 to cultivate here, but although it will grow in many places our 
 climate is too dry and variable for it to succeed. In the cinchona 
 districts of Ceylon the temperature is exceedingly equable, varying 
 a few degrees only in the year. 
 
 The conservatism of farmers and gardeners is proverbial, and a 
 lot of drumming and drilling is required to get them to move out 
 of the beaten paths they have been accustomed to, but we in this 
 young country, with a fine climate and fruitful soil, must take 
 every advantage of these, and cultivate any and every thing we 
 can be assured will pay. The necessity for discovering every 
 plant, fruit, and tree which will tend to increase our wealth from 
 the soil, and expand our exports, neVer before existed to such an 
 extent as now. All kinds of garden produce, and I may add 
 farm produce as well, were never, I suppose, so cheap as at present, 
 and I think if I can point out to you some plants and crops which 
 can be profitably grown here — if I can set some of you thinkiiig 
 of what I say and recommend — I shall be pleased. Writers in 
 
26 
 
 newspapers and others usually indulge too much, in generalities j 
 they, and all of us, know how absolutely necessary it is to get all 
 we can from the soil, but they do not sufficiently indicate what 
 we should grow — my intention is now to point out those crops 
 I think should be tried. 
 
 SuGAE Beet. 
 
 First and foremost among crops not grown here — and which I 
 feel convinced would pay well to cultivate — is this most valuable 
 root. It is about 30 years since the press of Melbourne and a 
 few of our public men first directed attention to the importance 
 of sugar beet. At that time cane sugar was the common staple 
 article all over the "world. Sugar produced from the beet root 
 was very small ; in fact, the industry was then only beginning to- 
 develop. In 1868 the total yield in all Europe of beet sugar was 
 only 650,000 tons. In 1889-90 the yield in Europe alone was 
 no less than 3,543,107 tons. California — with soil and climate 
 similar to our own, but with a little less rainfall — is now, after 
 considerable opposition from those connected with the established 
 cane-sugar industry, growing the root largely. In 1890 3,250 
 tons of crystallized sugar" were produced; but in the very next 
 year (1891) this quantity increased to 10,350 tons from three 
 factories, and two more factories were in course of building. 
 In the whole of the states of America they are now manufacturing 
 something like a million tons of. this sugar annually. The pro- 
 duction of cane sugar is gradually diminishing, the total yield for 
 1890 being, according to Hayter, 2,676,500 tons, or a trifle more 
 than half the quantity made from beet. The wonderfully rapid 
 increase in the production of beet sugar is, of course, owing to 
 the large subsidies paid by Germany, France, Belgium, Russia, 
 and other European countries. Some 20 or 25 years ago a 
 commencement was made in this colony to grow this root and 
 manufacture it into, sugar. As far as the growing of the root 
 and its conversion into sugar were concerned the experiment was 
 successful, yet the enterprise came to grief, if I remember rightly 
 the causes being want of sufficient capital, proper management, 
 and the lack of the necessary scientific skill to make the venture 
 a success. The quality of the Article made was pronounced by 
 experts to be equal to any imported. 
 
 The history of the attempt to start this novel industry in 
 Victoria was graphically given at a meeting of the Royal Com- 
 mission on Vegetable Products some half-dozen years ago by Mr. 
 Murray Ross, a gentleman who had sufficient faith in the practi- 
 cability and remunera"tiveness of sugar-beet growing and manu- 
 facturing the same to build, at a cost of some £50,000, that fine 
 pile of buildings near the junction of the Gippsland and Mor- 
 nington railways. This gentleman stated to the Commission 
 
27 
 
 that he was willing to spend another £50,000 to complete the 
 works. Whether he is still ready to spend this trifle of £50,000 
 I do not know. No possible doubt can exist as to the suitability 
 of our climate for the growth of this plant, and we have any 
 amount of land eminently adapted for it. The crop is very 
 exhaustive to the soil, and cannot be grown successfully on the 
 same ground year after year. Of course a deal depends on the , 
 richness and the natural constituents of the soil, but in ordinary 
 cases — and this may be laid down as a rule — beet should only be 
 grown once in three or four years on the same land. Mr. Pearson, 
 our Government Agricultural Chemist, has experimented upon 
 beet root ; and in one of his reports he says — " It may be con- 
 sidered to all intents .and purposes demonstrated that sufficiently 
 rich beet can be grown in this colony. With properly-selected 
 seed, with the improvements in the modes of cultivation which 
 are the result of experience, there is practically no doubt that a 
 yield of from 6,000 lbs. to 8,000 lbs. of sugar per acre per annum 
 may be counted upon." Although the beet plant will grow in 
 almost any kind of land,, great attention must be given to the 
 selection of those soils best adapted to its successful cultivation. 
 It thrives best in a deep sandy loam or an argillaceous soil; peaty 
 and also chalky soils are not suitable. It does well in light 
 silicious ground if it be rich in humus or in manure. A purely 
 clay land is unsuitable, being too cold, and the long tapering roots 
 would not easily penetrate it ; fhey would also be deficient in 
 saccharine matter. The land should be well drained. Neither 
 marshy land nor a dry sandy soil will yield a satisfactory crop. 
 The presence of salt in the soil is very inimical to the production 
 of sugar from this root. Monsieur Baruchson says that 1 per cent. 
 of salt destroys 5 per cent, of sugar. Even dose proximity to the 
 sea, solar action on the portion above ground, the use of any 
 manure impregnated with salt is a serious obstacle to success. 
 So important a matter is this that some of the German manufac- 
 turers, when contracting with the growers of the root, stipulate 
 that it shall not be grown on certain soils, and sometimes name 
 the kind of manure which shall be used. Land which has already 
 been cropped should be preferred to that newly cleared. The 
 roots penetrate to a good depth if the soil is open and well pul- 
 verized, and newly-cleared land may contain some matter detri- 
 mental to the sugar-producing power of the beet. 
 
 I heed hardly add that stony soils should be scrupulously 
 avoided. From what I have said about the cultivation of the 
 beet plant, you will see that more attention to soils is required 
 than that necessary to grow potatoes, onions, or other roots. To 
 renovate the soil impoverished by the beet, various manures are 
 used. If farm-yard manure be used, it should be applied in the 
 autumn, the land deeply ploughed, and in the spring, at seed time. 
 
28 
 
 some artificial manure maybe lightly ploughed in, sulphate of 
 ammonia being considered one of the best fertilizers. All the 
 leaves cut off at the time of digging up the roots, if not used for 
 feeding cattle or sheep, as -well as the refuse or waste substances 
 made in the manufacturing, should be returned to the soil. 
 The selection of seed saved from roots rich in sugar is very im- 
 portant, and large European manufacturers frequently provide the 
 seed themselves, so as to insure the best quality being grown. 
 Neither very large nor very small roots are best adapted for sugar 
 purposes, those averaging between 2 lbs. and 3 lbs. are reckoned 
 the best. They should have small tops, not necky, and those 
 which grow almost entirely in the ground are the best. The 
 harvesting and the manufacturing of the- root into sugar are 
 matters somewhat foreign to the object of my paper, and at 
 present unnecessary for me to speak upon. I need hardly add 
 that until the factories and machinery necessary to transform the 
 beet root into sugar are ready, it would be madness for our farmers 
 to rush off into beet-growing. 
 
 At the period I have already mentioned, when this industry 
 was first started and failed, the necessity for extracting all we 
 can from the soil did not exist to the same extent as at present. 
 Now we are faced with the fact that thousands of our fellow men 
 are wanting work, that numbers are leaving our shores for New 
 Zealand, .South Africa, West Australia, and other places ; short- 
 sighted persons may say, well, let them go, the better for those 
 who remain. I say no, most emphatically ; these men are the 
 very life-blood of the colony, and it is disastrous that we should 
 lose them. Let us take steps to attract population rather than 
 repel it. The growing of sugar beet or of any other crop will 
 not afford instant relief, but I feel convinced that this industry 
 would be of great benefit, and be a large factor -in our national 
 wealth. We consume between 50,000 and 60,000 tons of sugar 
 annually. If this were to be grown here, it would mean the 
 occupation of, say, 30,000 to 40,000 acres of land, and give em- 
 ployment to a large number of men, irrespective of those required 
 in the factories. Our railway receipts would be largely increased 
 by the conveyance of the roots to the factories, the transport of 
 manures, and in other directions. Just now all the talk is about 
 placing men on the land, but what are they to grow ? Our local 
 markets for vegetables can easily be swamped. Several years 
 must elapse before fruit trees come into full profit. Beet is an 
 annual crop. A living no doubt could be made by combining 
 several rural industries, such as poultry, pigs, bees, and other 
 things, but it seems to me that in this beet industry we have the 
 very thing which small holders could cultivate profitably. The 
 proposal to place men on allotments of 10 acres each should be 
 increased to say 15, a man could then grow a crop of beet of 
 
29 
 
 5 acres every year, and the sale of his produce -would be- 
 assured. Fairly good land should give a return of 20 tons of 
 roots to the acre, the manufacturer would give, say, 15s. per ton 
 placed in the railway trucks, so 5 acres at 20 tons to the acre 
 would realize £75. The seed for these 5 acres would cost about 
 15s. per acre ; the manure, say, 40s. per aci-e ; and extras 5s.; or a 
 total of £3 per acre, totalling for the 5 acres £15 ; this deducted 
 from the money realized would leave a net income from the 
 5 acres of £60. The balance of the 15 acres would, of course, be 
 used for growing potatoes and other vegetables, perhaps a little 
 corn, a few fruits, fodder for their cow, horse, pigs, and fowls. 
 In the cultivation of beet a quantity of light labour is required — 
 earthing up, hoeing, and weeding — such work that children could 
 engage in. The price of labour in the colony is fully one-third 
 higher than it is in Germany, but against that drawback we have 
 much cheaper land. There it runs about £3 per acre per annum ; 
 here, with the exception of some extraordinarily fertile spots in 
 the western district, it is very much less, infinitely less. Here 
 we have a duty of £6 per ton on cane sugar and £12 per ton on 
 beet sugar. This should be a sufficient set-oiF against the imported 
 article. 
 
 The growing of our own sugar might possibly provoke hostility 
 from those interested in cane-sugar refineries. 1 have not forgotten 
 the injury done to those immense sugar refineries at Bristol and 
 elsewhere in England by the development of the beet-sugar 
 industry ; but while some harm to individuals might accrue here, 
 should this replace cane sugar, I am convinced that very great 
 national benefits would follow the cultivation of a plant so 
 eminently adapted to the country. Accept if you please the advice 
 given by Mr. Pearson, and send to the continent of Europe for 
 some properly accredited gentleman of experience who would 
 understand both the administration and the technical sides of the 
 question. 
 
 I have not lost sight of the fact that the G-iUies-Deakin Go- 
 vernment offered a bonus of £100 for 20 tons of a good market- 
 able quality sugar grown in the colony, said bonus available up 
 to 30th June, 1895. This has not yet been applied for, nor 
 will it ever be ; the sutn offered is altogether too small, and the 
 required quantity of sugar too small also. I am not by any means 
 a fervent advocate of the bonus system ; with the one exception, 
 perhaps, that of the butter bonus, which, no doubt, has been suc- 
 cessful, the other bonuses offered have been either partial or total 
 failures. 
 
 Will not some of our enterprising men take this subject up, but 
 should private enterprise fail, then it might be worth while our 
 Government and Parliament considering the propriety of offering 
 something substantial, say, £5,000 for the first 50O tons of beet 
 
.30 
 
 sugar gro.wn in the colony. I hope that beet-sugar production 
 will not much longer be with us a dream of the future, but that it 
 will speedily become a well-developed source of wealth. 
 
 PiBEE Plants. 
 
 Spasmodic attempts have been made from time to time to grow 
 fibre plants here, but, although flax and hemp will in some parts 
 of the colony do as well as in any part of the world, we can point 
 to no results of which tc be proud. Mr. Guilfoyle, Director of 
 our Botanic Gardens, has on several occasions exhibited splendid 
 collections of fibres, which, although very interesting froin a 
 scientific point of view, were not of much use to the practical 
 man who might be anxious to cultivate for profit. To be of any 
 real service a few acres of each should be grown, an account of 
 the cost of the same to be kept, and then the value of the fibre 
 produced estimated ; but even this would be difficult, different 
 fibres require difierent treatment and machinery. 
 
 The three principal fibres are flax, hemp, and jute ; the latter 
 we may abandon all thought of growing ; our climate is too cold, 
 the plants producing jute will only thrive in a warm and humid 
 climate. 
 
 Of flax (Linum usitatissimum) we had last year, according to 
 Hayter, the prodigious area of thirteen acres under this crop, pro- 
 ducing 15 cwt. of fibre and 267 bushels of linseed. In the same 
 year we imported 373,392 gallons of linseed oil, valued at £44,000. 
 Surely in the flax we have a plant we should be able to grow 
 enough of to supply our own requirements at any rate. Now, what 
 is the reason it is not cultivated in quantity ? We have in many 
 parts of the colony the very soil and climate most suitablef ,or it ; 
 we have also among us plenty of men who have grown it in 
 Ireland and in Scotland, and who know all about its culture, and 
 also some who understand the manufacturing the fibre, and the 
 expressing the oil from the seed. Mr. Miller, the rope manufac- 
 turer, informs me that his firm is prepared to purchase pretty well 
 any quantity of fibre for manufacturing into cordage and. twine 
 purposes, and that if they could buy plenty of flax they had all 
 the necessary appliances for making canvas, and that with a little 
 extra outlay they would be able to manufacture other linen goods. 
 Hayter says that last year we imported fibres to the value of 
 £67,050, and this independent of jute and coooa-nut fibre, which 
 we cannot produce here. I am informed that in Gippsland a few- 
 farmers have grown this last season a few patches of flax, and 
 have been well pleased at the result. One' farmer particularly has 
 gone to some expense in getting machinery to prepare the plant 
 for market, and intends to go extensively into the cultivation of 
 flax next season. The only obstacle I can see in the way to 
 a profitable cultivation of this vahiable plant is the high price of 
 
31 
 
 labour compared to that in other countries. The greatest flax- 
 producing countries in Europe are Russia, Italy, France, and Bel- 
 gium, and in each of these countries the cost of labour is very low. 
 But in some of the states of America immense quantities of flax 
 are grown ; in three states alone as much as nearly 7,000,000 
 bushels of flax seed were grown in one recent .year. I have no 
 record of what the rate of wages is in Iowa, Dakota, and Kansas, 
 the three states I allude to, but it will be very much higher than on 
 the European continent, although probably less than what has 
 been ruling here. 
 
 Steeping, or water-retting, is done by immersing the flax in a 
 stream or pool of water. Sometimes the flax is spread out thinly 
 on the ground and exposed to the decomposing influence of dew 
 and rain ; this is what is known as dew-retting. But these means 
 of separating the fibre are largely superseded now by the so-called 
 dry process, resulting in a gain of both strength and quantity. 
 The use of chemicals and the application of steam for the purpose 
 of freeing the fibre from the woody matter have resulted in a 
 great saving of time over the old-fashioned methods. 
 
 Hemp is cultivated nearly all over the world. At our Horti- 
 cultural Gardens was grown this last season a patch of splendid 
 hemp, and I have no doubt that it, like flax, would succeed in 
 many parts of the colony. 
 
 The New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) is a valuable plant 
 to have in any garden. Possibly it may pay to cultivate in some 
 parts of Victoria. In New Zealand a considerable trade is done 
 in its fibre. The plant will grow almost anywhere, thriving best, 
 like most other plants, in fairly rich soil. 
 
 The Esparto Grass {Stipa tenacissima) 
 
 is one of the most valuable fibre plants in the world, and is 
 imported into England at the rate of 140,000 to 150,000 tons 
 annually. It is a native of Spain, Portugal, and North Africa. 
 It grows on the poorest of soils where no other vegetation is 
 produced. A drawback to the cultivation of this plant is the 
 fact that it takes many years to establish, and from twelve to 
 fifteen, years before fit for harvesting. It will then produce 6 to 
 8 tons to the acre, value £5 to £7 per ton. The late Dr. 
 Schomburg was fortunate in raising, some twenty years ago, a 
 large number of plants of this grass, but at this moment I am 
 not aware of what has become of them. Our Mr. Bosisto also 
 succeeded in importing this plant some few years since, and I 
 must make inquiry as to how it is succeeding with him. Mr. 
 Noble, paper manufacturer, says the New Zealand tussock grass 
 is as good as esparto, and probably our own tussock grass, so 
 plentiful in many parts of the colony, may be equally valuable. 
 
32 
 
 The Ramee, 
 
 or glass-cloth plant (Boehmeria nivea), will do fairly well with 
 us in many places, but at present can only be recommended 
 experimentally. A plantation made by Mr. Fuller at Cheltenham 
 some years ago resulted in failure. The plant wants thorough 
 shelter from cold winds and frosts. The fibre is very strong and 
 valuable, realizing from £30 up to sometimes £100 per ton. I 
 observe that Fiji has gone into growing ramee largely. 
 
 ■ The Sunflower, 
 
 with its large handsome smiling face, is being grown in immense 
 areas in Russia, Germany, and other European States, and would 
 probably pay well to cultivate in Victoria. On good land the 
 yield should be 50 bushels of seed to the acre, and a bushel 
 of seed should yield 1 gallon of oil. Haldane says the oil is 
 of great value, and is employed for table purposes, lamps, paint- 
 ing (especially for greens and blues). It makes excellent soap 
 of great softness. When travelling in Switzerland and Germany 
 two or three years ago I observed the words liberally placarded 
 at all the railway stations " Zunflower Zweep." For some time 
 I could not imagine what this meant, when presently a ray of 
 intelligence flashed across my dull intellect that " Zunflower 
 Zweep " just meant Sunflower Soap, and so it proved to be. As 
 a lubricant it is most excellent ; as a drying oil nearly equal to 
 linseed ; quite equal to olive oil for salads and other domestic 
 purposes, in fact, seems to be superseding olive oil. The seed, 
 shelled and ground, makes very fine sweet flour for bread, and is 
 also a valuable food, of course in its whole state, for poultry. 
 The seed, roasted and ground^ is a substitute for coffee ; the seeds 
 also make demulcent and soothing emulsions. No flowers yield 
 more honey ; they also give a fine yellow dye. The pith may be 
 used in surgery instead of moxa ; the oil is used for cloth-dressing ; 
 the leaves are excellent fodder, either fresh or dry ; the marc, or 
 refu^ after expressing the oil, is superior to linseed cake for 
 fattening cattle and poultry. By treating the stem like flax a 
 very fine fibre is produced, nearly as fine as silk. So you see 
 every part of the plant is of value — the flower, the seed, the 
 leaves, and the stem, while a valuable potash is made from the 
 stem and leaves. As you already know, the sunflower is an annual 
 plant, It is a gross feeder, and does best in a rich calcareous 
 soil ; one of the best manures for it is old mortar. The im- 
 poverishment of the soil by its culture can be remedied greatly by 
 burning the stalks and spreading the ashes over the soil, and of 
 course the land could be kept in good heart by a liberal use of 
 bone-dust, blood manure, guano, or other artificial fertilizers. 
 
m 
 
 There are several varieties of sunflower, the white-seeded one 
 producing the most oU, while many cultivators on the continent 
 prefer a dwarf species (Helianthus indicus) as being the most 
 profitable for general cultivation. It is stated that wheat grows 
 better whe^ succeeding a crop of sunflcwer. I have had inquiries 
 as to how the seed should be extracted from the head or disc. 
 When the seeds are shining and ripe the plant may be either 
 pulled from the ground or cut with a sickle. The discs are cut 
 from the stem and the seeds rubbed out with any suitable instru- 
 ment, such as that used for rubbing out maize. 
 
 Other Vegetable Oils. 
 
 Time will not permit to more than just mention olive, castor, 
 colza, and other oil-producing plants which grow well here. 
 The olive, as you all know, does well in numerous parts of the 
 colony, and excellent samples of oil have been exhibited at our 
 various shows and exhibitions for very many years past, but, as 
 I stated before, the sunflower, which gives a return in as many 
 months as the olive does in years, and which appears to yield a 
 product as valuable as the latter, may possibly in time supersede 
 it. One advantage the olive has over the sunflower, inasmuch as 
 the latter requires special soil and manuring, while the olive will 
 live nearly for ever, and requires little attention in the way of 
 pruning and dressing, it will also grow in a great variety of soils, 
 wet marshy land being alone inimical to it. An Italian saying 
 is, " If you wish to leave your children a lasting inheritance, 
 plant an olive tree." De Candolle puts the average age of the 
 olive at 700 years. The castor oil plant does well enough here, 
 in some parts of South Australia is quite a weed ; but we cannot 
 expect to compete with India and its cheap labour in the pro- 
 duction of castor oil. I have little faith also in our being able 
 to produce economically rape or colza oil. But there is one other 
 valuable oil plant which I think may prove profitable — it is the 
 earth-nut (Arachis hypogcBo). I have only seen this singular 
 annual plant in two or three places. At the Horticultural 
 Gardens at Eichmond it does well. The crop is a most profit- 
 able one, producing in a good year as much as 100 bushels 
 (25 to 32 lbs. to the bushel) to the acre. The seeds contain 
 42 to 50 per cent, of oil ; after they are cleaned, decorticated, 
 crushed, and pressed by cold pressure, 1 bushel of seed will 
 yield a gallon of the finest oil, very clear, and of a pale-straw 
 colour ; it is then frequently sold in Europe for olive oil. It makes 
 an excellent lamp oil. It is also used for dressing cloth, and for 
 lubricating watches and other delicate machinery. An inferior 
 quality of oil is made by the seeds or cake remaining after the 
 first pressing being ground finely, heated, and pressed again ; this 
 
 826. 
 
 C 
 
34 
 
 is largely used by soap manufacturers. After the oil is expressed, 
 the cake is given to cattle, being particularly rich in flesh formers, 
 of sweet taste, and agreeable flavour. Cattle are fond of the 
 stems of the plant, so nothing need be wasted. These earth, or 
 pea-nuts as they are commonly called here, are, when fresh, very 
 rich and delicious, very different to the rancid trash frequently 
 found in Melbourne. Most people who have been accustomed 
 to consume them fresh much prefer them to any other kind of 
 nut. The seeds roasted and bruised in a mortar and made into 
 cakes are an excellent substitute for cocoa, and when parched 
 and beaten with sugar make an excellent sweetmeat. This 
 valuable and humble little plant has lately been placed to a novel 
 use, the oil it produces, under the name of " Arachide," is ex- 
 tensively used in some parts of Europe in the manufacture of 
 margarine ; from a report I have seen, the trade done in this oil 
 for this purpose is kept very secret. When fresh, the oil is per- 
 fectly wholesome, and it will keep for a long time without getting 
 rancid. 
 
 The plant requires a warm situation to thrive in, and a deep 
 rich soil is the best for it. Sir Ferdinand von Mueller says that 
 in the southern United States alone the annual value of the crop 
 is upwards of half-a-million sterling. It is also largely cultivated 
 in the south of France and Spain, in parts of Africa, and many 
 other parts of the globe. 
 
 Flower-farming for Perfumes. 
 
 The time will come when this industry will in Victoria become 
 of great importance. Very many of the flowers which provide 
 the material for perfumes grow well with us — the rose, lavender, 
 jasmine, mignonette, sweet-scented geraniums, and a host of 
 other plants do as well with us as in any part of the world, while 
 some others, such as the boronia, the acacia or wattle, and the 
 sweet-scented pittosporum probably thrive better. Mr. Piesse, 
 of the celebrated firm of Piesse and Lubin, of Paris, when 
 visiting our Great Exhibition of 1880, and after travelhng 
 through a considerable portion of the colony, drew our attention 
 to the great advantages we possessed in climate and soil for the 
 successful cultivation of numerous scent-producing plants. He 
 strongly urged us to give this matter our thoughtful consideration, 
 feeling confident it would be a honafide and remunerative method 
 of augmenting personal incomes, and would contribute greatly to 
 the general prosperity of the colony. The profits at first may 
 not be large, but the attempts at new industries would afford 
 employment to a number of young people, teach them habits of 
 industry, ar.d in the course of time develop into an important 
 item of our exports. 
 
35 
 
 I know of no industry so delightful, so healthful, as this. A 
 valuable object-lesson in this line is to be found at the Govern- 
 ment Scent Farm at Dunolly, where, under the enthusiastic 
 superintendence of Mr. Mellon, a great variety of plants and bulbs 
 are grown expressly for perfume purposes. 
 
 In establishing a flower farm for perfumery purposes we must 
 bear in mind that one great essential tO' pecuniary success is the 
 ability to obtain cheap labour, such as women and children may 
 afford ; it would never pay to give 6s. or 7s. per day to collect 
 orange blossom or jasmine flowers. It would also be a mistake 
 to atfempt to cultivate too many kinds of scent plants ; only those 
 specially adapted to the soil, situation, and climate should be 
 selected. It is a well-known fact that these factors influence in 
 a great degree the delicacy and fragrance of many flowers. The 
 lavender and peppermint grown at Mitcham, in England, yield 
 oils which far excel in value those- of France or other countries. 
 The greatest flower farms in the world are those lying on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, commencing near Nice on to Cannes, 
 which is 20 miles, and from Grasse to the sea, 10 miles ; but for 
 considerable distances beyond these inland places flower farming 
 is carried on. Here grow the jasmine, the tuberose, the rose, and 
 other plants as we grow cabbages, onions, or potatoes. Labour 
 is abundant and cheap, men getting about 2^ francs per day ; 
 these of course do all the heavy work of the fields while women 
 and children gather the blossoms and attend to hoeing and other 
 light work, the former being paid from a franc to a franc and a 
 quarter per day. In this colony of Victoria you enter a homestead 
 of golden grain, there in France one of lavender sheaves ; here of 
 butter and cheese, there of olive oil and of violet butter ; here 
 vats of wine, there of orange flower and rose water. Now, while 
 our sparse population and higher- priced labour may prevent our 
 entering into successful competition with England, France, Italy, 
 and other places in the cultivation of some of our commoner scent- 
 producing plants, we are able to grow, as I stated before, some kinds 
 infinitely better than any other country. Mr. Bosisto and some 
 other chemists have after repeated trials succeeded in extracting 
 what may perhaps be considered the most exquisite of all scents — 
 I mean the Boronia megastigma. Now, if this can be profitably 
 done, I have no hesitation in saying it would shortly become the 
 most highly prized of all scents in Paris or Loudon ; the plant 
 luxuriates in the poor sandy peaty soils of some parts of Brighton, 
 Cheltenham, and numerous other districts, while I have also seen 
 it doing equally well in the richer loams of more inland places. 
 I am no great advocate for company forming, but it seems to me 
 that there is a legitimate field for a number of persons to join 
 together and form a company for the express purpose of growing 
 perfume plants. Soil, situation, and climate would of course have 
 
 C2 
 
first to be considered, while proximity to population, so that 
 women and children may be procurable, must not be left out of 
 calculation. 
 
 Sbeicultuee. 
 
 It must be something like 30 years since an enterprising Italian 
 gentleman started near Lilydale a mulberry plantation on a 
 somewhat pretentious scale, but it came to grief. If I remember 
 rightly, Signer Martelli had not sufficient capital to keep the thing 
 going, and at that period most of- us were too busily engaged 
 making money in other directions to tempt speculation in the 
 slower art of silk growing. Since then several attempts have 
 been made by Mrs. Bladen Neill, Mrs. Timbrell, and other ladies 
 to establish this industry— Corowa, Albury (N.S.W.), Northcote, 
 and other places were selected, but from some cause or other no 
 good or lasting results have been achieved. I observed only two 
 or three months since that another attempt was to be made, and 
 I wish the "Women Silk Growers' Association" (I think this 
 was the name) every success. New Zealand has been planting 
 mulberries extensively at her agricultural farms at Whangarei, 
 the idea being to give employment to the Industrial Schools 
 children. This is an industry which, above all others, requires tlie 
 aid of women and children, and this only for a short period in the 
 year ; but it seems to me it should prove a paying one, provided 
 always the persons engaged know how the worms should be 
 managed and the silk manufactured ; like everything else, the 
 necessary knowledge and attention is required to make the thing 
 profitable. 
 
 Numerous plants afford food for the silkworm — the ailantus, 
 the bombax, the ricinus, the maclura, or Osage orange, the 
 Indian plum, and others ; but by far and away the chief is the 
 mulberry, of which there are several varieties. The best appears 
 to be morus multicaulis, or moretti ; but in Europe they have kinds 
 which are specially adapted for certain situations. The white 
 mulberry, upon which the worms chiefly feed, will grow almost 
 anywhere, provided the soil is fairly good and the site sheltered 
 from high winds. The trees soon arrive at an age fit for the 
 leaves being stripped. 
 
 My friend Mr. Bosisto has drawn my attention to what came 
 under his observation when travelling in Spain a few years ago, 
 and which I think is not generally known. I quote his words : — 
 " I noticed in the districts of Murcia and Miranda the morus alba 
 growing in clumps and rows on lands belonging to the villagers ; 
 on inquiry I became acquainted with a novel industry, viz., the 
 making of silken gut from silkworms fed on the mulberry leaves. 
 This industry is carried on by villagers entirely in this part of 
 Spain, and a trade is done to the extent of some thousands of 
 
37 
 
 pounds sterling. This silken gut resembles very much catgut, 
 but is finer in appearance ; it is employed as strings for the guitar 
 in Spain, but throughout Europe is used chiefly for the ends of 
 fishing lines, on which to fix the hook. I had some difficulty in 
 finding out the process of manufacture, and the following may 
 not be quite complete : — When the worm is well developed and 
 showing signs of spinning its cocoon, it is at once removed from 
 the feeding tray and put alive into strong vinegar ; in this it is 
 kept for about fourteen days, the head and tail are then removed 
 and the double entrail is pulled out between two fingers of each 
 hand to its utmost stretch, forming two strings, each generally 
 measuring from 9 to 15 inches, according to the size of the silk- 
 worm ; these are repickled for a time, they are afterwards rounded 
 in a similar fashion to that of a leathern shoe lace; another process 
 follows — in order to neutralize the acid absorbed they are then 
 dried, and the process is complete." 
 
 Specimens of Victorian silk have been sent on various occa- 
 sions to Europe, and extremely favorable reports have been 
 received — of equal commercial value to those of any country, and 
 so on. 
 
 Baron von Mueller informs us as to the profits of sericulture 
 elsewhere. He quotes a fact from California, according to which 
 £700 was the clear gain from 3^ acres of mulberries, the working 
 expenses being £93. In this country, California, this industry is 
 assuming enormous dimensions, since 1870 between 7,000,000 and 
 8,000,000 mulberry trees having been planted. The Commissioner 
 of the United States for Agriculture estimates that an acre 
 should support 700 to 1,000 mulberry trees, producing, when four 
 years old, 5,000 lbs. of leaves fit for food. On this quantity of 
 leaves can be reared 140,000 worms, from which over a net profit 
 of from £80 to £240 per acre may be obtained by one person 
 only. Mr. C. Brody, of Sydney, thinks the probable proceeds of 
 silk culture to range from £60 to £150 per acre. The dis- 
 crepancies in these calculations arise from difference in cost of 
 labour, soil, attention, climate, and so on. 
 
 Medicinal Plants. 
 
 The cultivation of these may be regarded as a very minor 
 industry ; still, as we import a great number, either in a natiiral 
 or prepared state, there is no reason why we should not cultivate 
 those which readily grow here. I may mention camomile, sar- 
 saparilla, phytolacca, rhubarb, tansey, broom, and numerous 
 others. Liquorice does as well with us as anywhere. In a spot in 
 my old garden at South Yarra it was rampant, a perfect weed, 
 and it seemed almost impossible to keep it within bounds. It 
 delights in a deep sandy loam. The roots are fit to i}se in about 
 
38 
 
 three years after planting, and are easily manufactured into the 
 liquorice of commerce. We import annually 50,000 to 60,000 lbs. 
 weight, of a value of upwards of £2,000. There is an import 
 duty of 2d. per lb. ^ :,. . , 
 
 To any one thinking of embarking m the culture ot medicinal 
 plants, or, in fact, the culture of any plant not in common cultiva- 
 tion, I would urge him to procure a copy of Baron von Mueller's 
 valuable work entitled " Select Plants for Industrial Culture," 
 price 5s., to be had at the Government Printing Office, and should 
 be purchaseable at our principal booksellers. 
 
 Dye Plants. 
 
 Out of the numerous plants used for dyeing I can hardly point 
 to one I think would pay us to cultivate. Indigo, woad, turmeric, 
 safflower, madder, sapan-wood, in fact the bulk of -plants used 
 for this purpose, come chiefly from India, and, even supposing our 
 climate was suitable, we could not compete with the cheap labour 
 of that country. The late curator of the Adelaide Botanic 
 Gardens, Dr. Schomburg, who was an enthusiast in experimental 
 cultivation, had got together a fine collection of dye plants and 
 dyes, numbering about 70 objects, but at this moment I do not 
 remember that he was sanguine of the successful and profitable 
 cultivation of but a very few. 
 
 The Capbb Plant {Capparis spinosa) 
 
 has not, I think, been grown anywhere in the colony with a view 
 to profit, and yet it does well in numerous places, and there is 
 little doubt but that we could grow it as well as Southern Spain, 
 from whence our chief supplies are sent. As a pickle the flower- 
 buds of the caper are in great esteem everywhere. The buds are 
 gathered by children, then thrown into a cask containing as much 
 salt and vinegar as is sufiicient to cover them, and as the supply 
 of capers increases more vinegar is added. This runs on for, say, 
 six months, when the caper season closes. The casks are then 
 emptied and the buds sorted according to their size and colour, the 
 smallest and greenest being considered the best. They are then 
 put into smaller casks of fresh vinegar for commerce, and in this 
 state will keep for five or six years. The caper plant is pro- 
 pagated from seeds, from cuttings of the stems, and also from 
 pieces of the root. It must have a warm aspect, delights in dry 
 or even rocky situations, and positively refuses to grow in wet 
 land. In my old garden at South Yarra we grew it merely as an 
 ornamental plant, but winter frosts generally damaged it con- 
 siderably. It required a higher and drier place than the margin 
 of a swamp. 
 
39 
 
 Tanning Materials. 
 
 Amongst plants producing tanning materials, next in importance 
 to our native acacias may be placed the tanning sumach {Rhus 
 coriara), a native of those countries bordering on the Mediter- 
 ranean; of easy cultivation, well suited for dry soils, I am con- 
 vinced it vp^ould thrive in numerous parts of the colony, and be a 
 profitable plant to grow. Some few years since I obtained from 
 Europe, through a Melbourne seedsman, a quantity of seed of this, 
 which grew well, but ultimately the plants languished and died, 
 solely, I found out afterwards, through the soil being too rich and 
 the situation too damp. The importation into England of this 
 sumach, chiefly from Sicily, is enormous, 12,000 to 18,000 tons 
 being the usual annual quantity. The price of Sicilian sumach is 
 from 15s. to 16s. 6d. per cwt., that imported from Spain is not so 
 valuable. The parts used are the leaves and young twigs. These 
 are gathered two or three times in the summer, then dried and 
 ground or crushed, when they are ready for packing. Plants 
 raised from seed take longer to mature than those raised from 
 cuttings or suckers, and it is generally four or five years ere they 
 are fit for cropping, whereas plants from cuttings or suckers are 
 ready for stripping in the second year. The plant lives for ten 
 to fifteen years, and an acre of plants at their prime produces' 
 about a ton of leaves. 
 
 Sumach is also used for dyeing, the leaves are principally used 
 for yellow and black, and the roots give a red dye. 
 
 Venetian sumach is the product of Rhus cotinus, and contains 
 about 20 per cent, of tannin ; it imparts a light colour to leather 
 and considerable firmness ; the leather is soft and friable. The 
 leaves yield a yellow dye, called in commerce "Young Fustic." 
 
 Rhus vernicifera is the celebrated " Lacquer-tree " of Japan, a 
 small tree which yields a vegetable wax. By making wounds in 
 the tree the juice is collected, placed in tubs, then an infusion of 
 galls and iron is added, and after some other manipulation the 
 beautiful jet-black varnish is produced. The tree which produces 
 what is commonly known as " Japan Vegetable Wax " is Rhus 
 succedanea, and was, I think, first introduced into Victoria some 
 30 years ago from Japan, by Mr. G. W. Eusden, a gentleman well 
 known to many of us. It does well here, is a strikingly hand- 
 some small tree, and should be planted largely for scenic effect. 
 It is the berries of this plant which produces the wax which is 
 chiefly used for manufacturing candles and vestas. I have men- 
 tioned these two last plants not with any idea of recommending 
 them to be cultivated for economic purposes, but having mentioned 
 Rhus coriara and cotinus I could hardly refrain from just refer- 
 ring to two plants considered of so much importance in their own 
 country, Japan. 
 
40 
 
 I cannot leave this subject without alluding to the plant intro- 
 duced from America some few years ago, and which was reputed 
 to be so valuable for tanning purposes. I refer to the " Canaigre 
 (Rumex hymenosepalum) one of the dock or sorrel family, a 
 plant said to yield 20 to 40 per cent, of tannic acid. I have grown 
 this at Mornington, but not with pronounced success, the soil 
 being probably too poor and the situation too cold. Further north 
 considerable success has resulted in the cultivation of this plant, 
 and it will likely become a considerable source of wealth. 
 
 The Coek Oak ( Quercus suber) 
 is a tree which thrives well in many parts of the colony. In the 
 Fitzroy Gardens, Botanic Gardens, Macedon State Nursery, and 
 in many private gardens throughout Victoria, are to be found 
 isolated specimens of this useful tree. On account of the length 
 of time one has to wait before any return comes in, it is not a tree 
 we could recommend to our selectors and farmers to plant, but 
 surely we have among us a number of landed and wealthy pro- 
 prietors to whom immediate revenue would not be so necessary, 
 and who would, by planting a few hundred acres of the tree in 
 question, be not only exhibiting a kind of patriotism — a love for 
 his country — but would at the same time insure, if not to himseH, 
 to his heirs, a valuable property. Mr. Hayter informs us that in 
 1890 and 1891 we imported cork in its natural and also cut 
 state to the value of £46,000. The demand for cork is fast in- 
 creasing, being now used for purposes which twenty years ago 
 would never have been dreamt of. Those new substitutes for oil- 
 cloth called kamptulicon and linoleum are manufactured from 
 cork and caoutchouc. We also find that cork dust makes excel- 
 lent packing for fruit for exportation. Thousands of tons are 
 used in various parts of the world of the rough cork bark for 
 making artificial rock-work. With what excellent efiect has it 
 been used in the Aquarium at the Exhibition Building. The 
 cork tree is a native of the south of Europe and the northern part 
 of Africa. I have also seen it growing abundantly, apparently 
 wild, in Tuscany, and there it seemed to be doing well on rocky 
 sidelands where there was very little depth of soil ; it thrives best 
 in a granite or schistose soil. It may be multiplied by seeds or by 
 grafting on to the common evergreen or Holly Oak ( Quercus Ilex), 
 which seeds most abundantly. Probably trees so raised would 
 not be so good as those raised from seed sown in the place where 
 they are to remain. I have imported these acorns from England, 
 but although freshly gathered at the time of shipment, none of 
 them grew. If packed in moss or sand and despatched by one of 
 the fastest boats they should carry all right. 
 
 I have already alluded to the length of time before the tree is 
 fit to strip for its bark ; this somewhat depends on the climate ; 
 
41 
 
 in Algeria and Southern Spain the trees are fit for barking before 
 those grown in colder climes ; fifteen to twenty-years is the usual 
 time before they are ready, and then in from eight to twelve years 
 the trees may be rebarked, and this process can be renewed for 
 150 years or more. I need hardly say that the inner layer, or 
 what is called the " mother bark," must not be injured, or the 
 tree will fail to renew its bark, or perhaps may die. Napoleon III. 
 did incalculable good by planting along the coast of the Bay of 
 Biscay miles of this valuable tree, thereby draining a large tract 
 of swampy and unhealthy country, making it a place fit to live 
 in, and also causing it ultimately to become a source of profit. 
 
 The Valonia Oak {Quercvs ^gilops) 
 
 is a singularly beautiful and most valuable tree, a native of 
 Southern Europe, from whence enormous quantities of the 
 commercial article called " Valonia " is exported to England. 
 "Valonia" is the cups of the acorns produced by this tree. 
 Although it is some time since this tree was first introduced into 
 the colony, and attention drawn to its great value by Sir 
 Ferdinand von Mueller and others, it is still scarce. 
 
 Mr. Cunnack, of Castlemaine, and Mr. Wm. Lawrence, of 
 South Yarra, have imported both plants and seeds of this oak, 
 and 1 think it would well pay some of our enterprising Melbourne 
 nurserymen to get out large quantities of both ; a ready sale 
 would be found among numerous gentlemen interested in tanning 
 and the leather trade. There are some trees already seeding in 
 the colony, and it is to be hoped that every acorn will be collected 
 and sown. The tree is not a rapid grower, it is growing very 
 slowly with me near the coast ; but further north, and in warmer 
 districts, the growth is more rapid. I may just add that the 
 value of "Valonia" consists in its giving a rich bloom to 
 leather, as well as hardening it and making it less permeable to 
 water. 
 
 Feuit-gkowing for Expoet. 
 
 It is not my intention to more than just allude to this industry. 
 There are gentlemen infinitely better qualified to speak on this 
 most important subject than I, besides the matter is of too great 
 moment to be dealt with in this paper. For the past two or 
 three years we have been shipping to England considerable quan- 
 tities of apples, a few pears, and other fruits. The results have 
 varied, but there is no question that those growers and shippers 
 who have carefully selected fine, sound, and good sized fruit, and 
 have properly packed it, have been rewarded with excellent account 
 sales, while others, less careful in the selection and the packing, 
 have had most unsatisfactory returns, and serve them right too. 
 Properly done, there is an immense future in the exportation of 
 apples to England, and probably to many continental towns, to 
 India, perhaps to Canada by the new route, and other places. 
 
42 
 
 In selecting the kinds of apples and pears with a view of 
 exportation, the greatest care must be taken in planting only 
 those which have been proved to carry well, and which can be 
 placed on the London mai-ket at just the proper time, when they 
 are pretty sure of commanding a ready sale. Reports have from 
 time to time appeared in the newspapers as to the most suitable 
 kinds, methods of packing, &c.; besides, Mr. Neilson and many 
 of our leading fruit-growers, who have shipped fruit successfully, 
 would, I am sure, cheerfully impart any desired information. 
 
 We can hardly expect to be able to export to Europe what are 
 known as soft fruits — plums, tomatoes, and other kinds have been 
 tried in one or two instances, but success was not achieved. One 
 of the most perishable of fruits is the strawberry, and yet it is 
 constantly shipped from America to England. At a recent date 
 the steamer Majestic conveyed from New York to Liverpool 
 147 crates of strawberries and thirteen cases of tomatoes ; both on 
 being opened were found exceptionally good and fine, and realized 
 good prices, the shipment being pronounced a success. I need 
 hardly say that the steamer was specially fitted up with refriger- 
 ating rooms. I allude to this more particularly to illustrate what 
 can really be done with proper packing, careful handling, and 
 suitable means of transport. 
 
 I have no hesitation in saying that considerable loss is occa- 
 sioned to our fruit-growers by the rough and careless handling 
 the fruit is subjected to at the hands of railway porters, carters, 
 and others. Stringent measures should be taken to prevent loss 
 from this source ; men, after being cautioned, should be fined or 
 penalized in some way or other. An industry yet quite in its 
 infancy is the canning, the bottling, and the drying of fruits; 
 very great possibilities are here before us, and I feel convinced 
 that presently great developments will take place in these 
 directions. 
 
 The Vine. 
 
 The culture of the vine, whether for wine making or for the 
 production of raisins and currants, is as yet only in its infancy 
 with us, time alone will develop the immense possibilities there 
 are in the colony for our wines. Some persons think that in a 
 little while the wine industry may mean more wealth to us than 
 even wheat-growing. A late visitor to our colony, Mr. Burgoyne, 
 says this is pre-eminently a wine-making country, and that we 
 are as well able to make good wines as any other community in 
 the world. He was struck with the remarkable advantages our 
 grape growers possessed, not only with regard to soil and climate, 
 but the configuration of the country also, as compared with the 
 assistance nature offers to the vignerons of France along the 
 banks of the Rhine and Moselle. Mr. Burgoyne is, as you 
 know, a leading wine merchant of London, and a gentleman 
 
43 
 
 whose opinions can be relied upon. During his recent visit 
 here, he not only purchased large quantities of wine, but 
 also invested a considerable sum of money in buying a vine- 
 yard in one of the northern parts of the colony. As a 
 temperance man, not a teetotaller, I would like to see much 
 more wine consumed and less ardent spirits ; the former would, I 
 am convinced, tend to reduce drunkenness, and, consequently, the 
 misery caused — every facility should be afforded by the State to 
 the wine-grower and the wine-seller. France drinks 30 gallons 
 of wine each per annum ; we hardly a gallon. There it means 
 £40,000,000 per annum, giving employment to two or three million 
 persons. California yields 20,000,000 gallons of wine annually, 
 Victoria only 2,000,000 gallons. I know that we are now making 
 fair progress in the direction of vine planting, but we have a 
 lot of leeway to make up to get abreast of California — a country 
 whose wines are generally much inferior to those produced here. 
 
 Sauces and Pickles. 
 
 What is there to prevent our making nearly all these within 
 our own borders. Why should we import yearly nearly £20,000 
 worth of these articles ? It seems to me a reflection on our 
 enterprise that we do not, with perhaps a few exceptions, 
 manufacture everything needed in this line. 
 
 CiDEK. 
 
 From sauces to cider is a jump, but often on reading the 
 market reports, and when I saw the price of apples quoted so low, 
 I have wondered the growers did not make them into cider. Nearly 
 every year, just at mid-season, when they are most plentiful, we 
 are told that, with the exception of the very best fruit, apples do 
 not pay to send to market, they are given to pigs and cows ; but 
 frequently I have seen them he rotting on the ground, not paying 
 to pick up. The quantity of cider imported into the colony is so 
 small as hardly worth mentioning, but I am quite convinced that 
 in apple districts it would pay well for one or more persons to 
 start the manufacturing of this most wholesome and refreshing 
 beverage ; there are plenty of west country people who would be 
 only too glad to have the opportunity of indulging in what may 
 be termed their native liquor. I am well aware that to make 
 first-class cider, apples of any description will not do, special 
 varieties are required ; at the same time, a very good wiiolesome 
 drink can be made from the gleanings of a general orchard. 
 
 Fakm Seeds. 
 We import annually from £30,000 to £40,000 worth of seeds 
 of various kinds, a good portion of which is grass, clover, and 
 canary seed. The latter seems to have gone out of cultivation 
 
44 
 
 altogether, for Hayter, in his Victorian Year-Book for 1892, puts 
 down the area as nil, and yet I have seen fine crops of this a few 
 years ago in the Drysdale district. Mustard is another crop 
 which seems dwindling to nothing, last year showing only 2 acres 
 as against 30 to 40 two or three years ago. How is this ? Our 
 Melbourne seedsmen almost invariably prefer their stocks of rye 
 grass and cocksfoot from New Zealand to seeds grown in our own 
 colony ; and why? Because it is cleaner, better dressed, freer from 
 sorrel, and other weed seeds. Is this not a reflection upon onr own 
 farmers, that they do not keep their fields clean-, and so be able to 
 produce a good marketable article ? At present I do not think we 
 could successfully compete with Belgium, Holland, and other 
 places in Europe in the production of clovers, lucerne, and a few 
 other grasses, but I feel assured we import large quantities of 
 seeds which should be produced on our own soil. 
 
 Insect Pests. 
 
 It would be a source of wealth to the colony were we to keep 
 in subjection these pests which play such havoc in very many 
 of our gardens. It would be almost impossible to estimate, even 
 approximately, the loss we suffer from the ravages of codlin moth, 
 pear, and cherry slug, and a host of other pests. By drastic 
 measures we have stamped out phylloxera from our vineyards ; we 
 should do our best to subdue those pests which ravage our 
 gardens. A most important thing it is to know the best means 
 to be taken to attain this end, and I hope our G-overnment will 
 lose no time in introducing and passing a measure dealing with 
 these scourges, which, like the rabbit pest, will, the longer they 
 remain undealt with, be all the more difficult and expensive 
 to eradicate. Fortunately for us, I think that terrible plague the 
 "Hessian fly" has not yet appeared in our fields, but our 
 neighbours in New Zealand suffered very severely in some 
 localities last season ; in one district as great a loss as 50 per cent, 
 was experienced. 
 
 COLONIAX WOOBS. 
 
 The value of our colonial timber seems to be getting more 
 appreciated than formerly. Eeiser's process of seasoning wiU 
 cause a revolution in the method of dealing with them, and it is 
 quite on the cards that by-and-by we shall be exporting to 
 i^ngland and other places some of the best of our hardwoods. 
 Uur display at the recently opened Imperial Institute should cause 
 some inquiries to be made. We have been hiding our light under, 
 a bushel. I believe a demand will spring up for our blackwood 
 redgum, and many of our high coloured and best woods for 
 cabinet-makmg and other purposes. May we not possess in our 
 torests a very valuable asset— a wealth as yet quite undeveloped ? 
 
45 
 
 MANURES AND MANURING. 
 
 Bt a. N. Pearson. 
 
 Under the title of "Orchard Manuring" a lecture -was recently 
 given at the Government Horticultural School, Burnley, by Mr. 
 A. N. Pearson, the Government Agricultural Chemist. Although 
 the lecture had reference mainly to the special requirements of 
 orchardists, yet it dealt in so concise and comprehensive a manner 
 with the whole question of manuring generally that it will 
 doubtless be of use and interest to agriculturists of all sections. 
 The following is the substance of the lecture : — 
 
 All living things must feed. This is as true of plants as of 
 animals. But upon what do plants feed ? We might, perhaps, 
 obtain an answer to this question if we were to find out what a 
 plant is made of. If we take any piece of a plant — green grass, for 
 instance, or the leaves of a tree, or a piece of wood, and heat it in 
 a dish or shovel over the fire, we see the first thing that happens 
 is the escape of steam. This shows that the plant contains water. 
 After having dried off all the water, if we heat the plant still 
 further we find it catches fire and a large portion of it burns away. 
 But we find it will not all burn away, there is a small portion 
 left behind which we call ash. Thus, by this rough analysis, 
 we find plants to be made up of three different kinds of matter — 
 first, of matter dissipated on drying, which is mostly water; second, 
 matter dissipated on burning ; and third, ash or matter not dissi- 
 pated on burning. Of these three linds of substance the first is 
 far and away the greatest in quantity. On an average we may 
 say that plants contain about 72 parts of water in 100 ; some 
 plants, such as turnips and cabbages, may contain as much as 92 
 parts in 100. Of the matter dissipated on burning we may say 
 that there would be on an average about 26 parts in 100, and of 
 the ash about 2 parts. 
 
 Were we to adopt a finer method of analysis we could find out 
 what the matter dissipated on burning was made of, and what the 
 ash was made of. We should find that in the former there was 
 carbon, which is the black stuff we see in charcoal ; nitrogen, 
 which is the principal gas in the air we breathe ; and the elements 
 
46 
 
 of water, namely, oxygea and hydrogen. In the ash we should 
 fi Joxide of iron, lime, magnesia, potash soda, phosphoric acid, 
 sulphuric acid, chlorine, and silica. These various substances 
 would on the average be present somewhat in the proportions set 
 down as follows : — 
 
 ATEEAGE COMPOSITION OF PLANTS. 
 
 Matter dissipated on drying, consisting almost wholly 
 of water 
 
 Matter dissipated on burning, consisting of— 
 
 Carbon 
 
 
 
 11,000 
 
 Nitrogen ... 
 
 ... 
 
 750 
 
 ^Elements of water (oxygen and hj 
 
 drogen) 
 consist- 
 
 14,250 
 
 Matter left behind after burning (ash), 
 
 
 ing of — 
 
 
 
 Oxide of iron 
 
 
 20 
 
 Lime 
 
 
 .. 
 
 300 
 
 Magnesia ... 
 
 
 •• 
 
 125 
 
 Potash 
 
 
 .. 
 
 550 
 
 Soda 
 
 
 ■ • 
 
 70 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 
 
 270 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 
 
 .. 
 
 80 
 
 Chlorine ... 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 Silica 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 500 
 
 Parts in 
 100,000. 
 
 72,000 
 
 26,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 Now, where does a plant obtain these different substances, 
 where can it find the food with which to supply them ? Are they 
 obtainable from the soil? Let us see what the soil contains. 
 Were we to put a sample of soil through the same process of 
 rough analysis as we did the plant, namely, by drying and then 
 burning it, we should get similar results ; it would give o£E steam. 
 
47 
 
 showing the preseuce of ■water ; it -would blacken and catch flame, 
 showing the presence of carbon and other matters dissipated on 
 burning ; and there would be left behind a quantity of matter, 
 namely, the ash, which would not be dissipated by burning. But 
 we should observe an obvious difference between the plants and 
 the soil, for whef'eas in the plants the greater proportion consisted 
 of water and the least proportion was the ash or earthy substance ; 
 in the soil it is the other way about, the ash or earthy substance 
 greatly preponderating. We shall, in fact, iind an average soil 
 to contain something like the following : — 
 
 AvEEAGE Composition of Soils. 
 
 Water 
 
 Burnable matter, commonly called humus 
 
 (Consisting of carbon, the elements 
 of water, and nitrogen, the nitro- 
 gen amounting to 
 
 Parts in 100,000. 
 
 . 10,000 
 . 8,000 
 
 Earthy substance or ash, consisting of- 
 Alumina 
 Oxide of iron . 
 Lime 
 Magnesia 
 Potash 
 Soda 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 Sulphuric acid . 
 Chlorine 
 Carbonic acid . 
 Soluble silica . 
 Insoluble silica and sand 
 
 200) 
 
 • 1,000 
 
 3,500 
 
 350 
 
 250 
 
 200 
 
 150 
 
 100 
 
 150 
 
 10 
 
 300 
 
 250 
 
 75,740 
 
 82,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 From this list we see that there is everything in the soil that 
 there is in the plant. Yet we may not from this fact conclude 
 
48 
 
 that the plant gets all it requires from the soil. "We could, how- 
 ever, set the matter at rest by making different kinds of artificial 
 soil— as has been done by various experimenters— and trying to 
 grow plants in them. We might take pure quartz sand, wash it 
 in strong boiling acid, and, having obtained it perfectly clean and 
 dry, mix it in different ways with the substances shown in the 
 above list ; in one pot, for instance, we might put all the above 
 substances, in another we might put all except the humus, in 
 another all except the nitrogen, in another all except the oxide of 
 iron, and so on all through the list. By such an experiment we 
 should discover that a plant obtained from the soil all its foods 
 except^ one ; that one exception is the carbon. This substance 
 the plant obtains from the air. We burn fuel, and the carbon of 
 the fuel goes into the air in the form of gas. Men and beasts, 
 when they breathe, exhale the carbon of their bodies in the 
 form of gas into the air. Plants absorb this carbon from the 
 air ; it goes to form wood, and grass, and grain, thus being 
 converted into the fuel and food of man, from which the carbon 
 again passes into the air, and so again forms the food of 
 plants, and thus again and perpetually passes through the same 
 cycle. With this solitary exception, however, the plant gets all 
 its food from the soil. The greatest bulk of these foods consists, 
 as we said, of water ; 72 per cent, of water, removable by drying, 
 and 141 per cent, of the elements of water, removable by burning, 
 making a total of over 86 per cent, o^f water. Considering that 
 a plant consists mostly of water, and that this has to be 
 obtained from the soil, it will be readily understood how the mag- 
 nitude of a crop is strictly limited by the rainfall or by the 
 amount of water used in irrigating. W'ater is the chief food of 
 plants, and no amount of manuring can ever make up for lack 
 of water. 
 
 But the water being provided for and th0 carbon obtained, as 
 we see, from the atmosphere, let us turn our attention to those 
 other constituents of the plant which are found on burning to 
 remain behind as ash ; and let us consider at the same time the 
 nitrogen which disappears on burning. The list is rather a long 
 one : — Nitrogen, oxide of iron, lime, magnesia, potash, soda, 
 phosphoric acid", sulphuric acid, silica. T^ese things the plant 
 obtains from the soil. Now, supposing a soil does not contain all 
 these things, or contains some of them only in Very small quantity, 
 shall we have to put them into the soil in thel form of manure ? 
 That depends upon whether the plant needs tHem all or not. It 
 does not follow that, because a plant takes substances into it, those 
 substances are essential to the well-being of thevplant ; they may 
 bo neither helpful nor hurtful to it. We might carry out a 
 series of experiments with artificial soils madepy mixing sub- 
 stances with pure quartz sand in the manner we have already 
 
49 
 
 described, and in this way we could find out which of the sub- 
 stances was necessary to the well-being of plants. By a series 
 of such experiments we should find that the nitrogen and all the 
 substances in the ash except the silica were absolutely necessary; 
 if even one of these was left out of the artificial soil the young 
 plant would grow only so long as the food originally contained in 
 the seed lasted ; after that was used up the plant would cease 
 to grow, or if it put forth new leaves it would be by absorbing 
 the substance of the old ones ; it would not increase in weight or 
 size. This would occur in the case of the omission of any of the 
 substances excepting the iron. The omission of the iron would 
 cause a somewhat different appearance. The plant would grow 
 to a considerable extent, even after it had used up all the food 
 originally contained in the seed, but it would be white and colour- 
 less, and would ere long perish. From such experiments we 
 should obtain results which would show us ;that all the above 
 substances except the silica must be presented to the plant 
 through the soil, and if the soil does not contain sufiicient of 
 them they must he supplied in the form of manure. 
 
 Shall we then have to arrange for the supply of these nine 
 plant foods to the soil ? If we have to do this then the art of 
 manuring may become a somewhat complicated business. But 
 fortunately the matter is very much simplified for us by the fact 
 that some of these plant foods are already contained in all natural 
 soils in practically inexhaustible quantities. Take, for instance, 
 the oxide of iron : An ordinary crop would remove from an acre 
 of land about 2 lbs. of this substance, but the amount naturally 
 present in an acre of average soil 2 feet deep is from 50 to 250 
 tons. Take, again, the sulphuric acid : An ordinary crop would 
 remove 9 lbs. or 10 lbs. of this substance from an acre, but the 
 amount naturally contained in an acre of soil 2 feet deep is from 
 3 to 10 tons — sufficient to last for several centuries. But take, 
 however, the case of nitrogen : The amount of this substance 
 removed from the soil by an average crop is 80 lbs. per acre. 
 Now, I have known many soils which have not contained more 
 than 2 J tons of nitrogen in an acre 2 feet deep ; and this, drawn 
 upon at the rate of 80 lbs. a year, would be wholly exhausted 
 in 70 years. But many years before it became exhausted the 
 crops grown on such a soil, unless the nitrogen were replenished 
 from some other source, would, cease to be profitable — in fact, it 
 may be taken as a general rule that unless the nitrogen in a soil 
 exceed 5 tons per acre 2 feet deep crops cannot be grown profit- 
 ably without manuring. 
 
 If we glance over the list of substances which enter into the 
 composition of plants we find that those essential substances 
 which it absorbs from the soil in greatest quantity are nitrogen, 
 potash, lime, and phosphoric acid ; and of these four substances 
 
 826. D 
 
50 
 
 many soils contain so small a store that they quickly become so 
 far exhausted as to cease to yield profitable returns. Of these 
 four substances it is, generally speaking, the phosphoric acid that 
 begins to fail first, for most soils contain much more nitrogen and 
 potash than they do phosphoric acid ; then the nitrogen begins to 
 fail, and finally the potash and lime. Some soils may also per- 
 haps fail in magnesia, though I have not yet had such brought 
 under my notice. But the four substances — nitrogen, potash, 
 phosphoric acid, and lime — are the four plant foods about which 
 we have chiefly to concern ourselves in manuring. But we may 
 reduce the list still further, for we cannot give phosphoric acid 
 to the soil without at the same time giving lime, for any substances 
 we may use for supplying phosphoric acid to the soil invariably 
 contain the phosphoric acid combined with lime. Thus, then, 
 our list is reduced to three — namely, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 
 and potash ; and these are the three plant foods to which we may 
 practically confine our attention in manuring. 
 
 But how are we to know that we shall have to apply any or 
 all of these plant foods to our particular soil ? Our soil may be 
 naturally rich enough in these plant foods, or at least in one or 
 two of them. We may find this out in most cases by means of a 
 chemical analysis of the soil ; there are cases in which a chemical 
 analysis does not give all the information one wants, but it will 
 at least show us if the soil is poor in plant foods. If the chemical 
 analysis show us that the soil is poor in any particular plant food 
 then we may make up our minds at once that we shall have to 
 supply that plant food. But there is another way of finding out 
 which of the three plant foods a soil requires to have given 
 to it. I refer to the system of trial or test plots in the field, 
 which during the last few years I have so often advocated. 
 Suppose we have a series of plots laid out according to the 
 following plan : — 
 
 Plot 1. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash ; light dressing. 
 
 Plot 2. Do. ; medium dressing. 
 
 Plot 3. No manure. 
 
 Plot 4. Nitrogen, phosphoric, and potash ; heavy dressing. 
 
 Plot 5. Same as Plot 2, but without nitrogen. 
 
 Plot 6. Do., but without phosphoric acid. 
 
 Plot 7. Do., but without potash. 
 
 Plot 8. No manure. 
 
 S" Plot 3 receives no manure; Plot 2, alongside of it, receives a 
 mixture of the three plant foods; this mixture it is customary to 
 call a complete manure. Now, if Plot 2 gives us a better yield 
 than Plot 3, we shall know that the soil needs to have some 
 
51 
 
 plant food given to it. But how shall we know what quantity to 
 give ? This we find out in the following way : — On Plot 1 we give 
 a light dressing of the complete manure, on Plot 2 we give twice 
 as much as on Plot 1, and on Plot 4 we give three times as much 
 as on Plot 1. Now, suppose Plot 3, without manure, gives us at 
 the rate of 60 bushels of fruit per acre, and Plot I , with the light 
 dressing of manure, gives us 90 bushels, we shall then know that 
 30 bushels per acre increase has resulted from the light dressing 
 of manure. If again from Plot 2 we get 120 bushels per acre, we 
 shall see that twice the dressing of manure has given twice the 
 increase of crop, namely, 60 bushels. Therefore, the money 
 spent in the medium dressing has given just as profitable a return 
 as that spent in the light dressing. Naturally, then, we should 
 think it desirable to give not less than the medium dressing. 
 Now, suppose that on Plot 4 we get a yield of 150 bushels, we 
 should likewise see that the heavy dressing was just as profitable 
 as the medium dressing. Suppose, however, we obtain from this 
 plot only the same as from Plot 2, then we should conclude that 
 the increase of manure over and above what was given on Plot 2 
 was simply waste, and if we got a result intermediate between 
 . these two we should reason that the most profitable quantity of 
 manure was somewhat between the medium and the heavy 
 dressing. 
 
 Thus far, however, we shall not have learnt whether our soil 
 needs all the three plant foods, or only one or two of them. How 
 are we to find this out ? How, for instance, must we find out if 
 the soil needs nitrogen ? Some people might suppose we should 
 ■ do this simply enough by putting just nitrogen on one plot and 
 comparing the yield of that plot with the yield from the unmanured 
 plot. But this plan would not answer at all, for suppose the soil 
 needed potash and phosphoric acid as well as nitrogen, then no 
 amount of nitrogen added by itself would give us an adequate 
 increase of crop. In such case, indeed, by disturbing the balance 
 of growth, it might result in a decrease of crop. We should have 
 to supply the phosphoric acid and potash to one plot, and then to 
 another plot the phosphoric acid and potash together with the 
 nitrogen. This is arranged in the case of Plots 2 and 5 of the 
 above plan. Now, if Plot 2 with the nitrogen gives us an increased 
 yield of 60 bushels of fruit, and Plot 5 without the nitrogen gives 
 us an increase of only 10 or 20 bushels, we learn at once that 
 the soil needs nitrogen manuring, though perhaps not the whole 
 of the dressing given in Plot 2. Similarly Plots 6 and 7 tell us 
 about the phosphoric acid and the potash. 
 
 Let me here quote from some actual results of these test plots as 
 applied to fruit trees by Mr. Ewers, of Childers, on his raspberry 
 plantation. The test was made upon some young raspberry 
 bushes in their third season; and striking as were the results 
 
 D2 
 
52 
 
 gained, we may expect that they would have been still more 
 striking with older vines. The following were the results :— 
 
 Eeturns prom Test Plots ,on Thbbe-tbar-old Raspberkies bt 
 Mr. Ewers, Childees, 1892-3. 
 
 
 Weight of 
 Kaspberries 
 
 Estimated Wei?lit 
 
 
 of New Canes 
 
 
 per Acre. 
 
 for Next Season.* 
 
 
 IbB. 
 
 oz. per plot. 
 
 Plot 1. Complete manure, light dressing ... 
 
 2,700 
 
 43 
 
 Plot 2. Complete manure, medium dressing 
 
 3,000 
 
 54 
 
 Plot 3. No manure 
 
 2,050 
 
 36J 
 
 Plot 4. Complete manure, heavy dressing ... 
 
 3,500 
 
 62 
 
 Plot 5. Same as Plot 2, but no nitrogen ... 
 
 2,275 
 
 35 
 
 Plot 6. Same as Plot 2, no phosphoric acid 
 
 2,750 
 
 45 
 
 Plot 7. Same as Plot 2, no potash 
 
 2,850 
 
 47 
 
 Plot 8. No njanure 
 
 2,000 
 
 49 
 
 Plot 9. Same as Plot 2, but nitrogen given as 
 
 2,900 
 
 62 
 
 nitrkte of soda 
 
 
 
 Plot 10. Same as Plot 2, but twice as much 
 
 3,300 
 
 65 
 
 potash 
 
 
 
 * The weight of the new canes was estimated by measuring their length and tfucknesa ; 
 by multiplying these together the cabical contents were approximately ascertained, and 
 from this the weight was readily calculated. 
 
 Compare the yields from Plots 1, 2, 3, and 4. The increased 
 yields on Plots 1, 2, and 4 are 650 lbs., 950 lbs., and 1,450 lbs. 
 Plot 1 is a little high relatively to the others, but such irregu- 
 larities often occur if we take only one series of plots or only one 
 season's yield. If the increase in that plot had been only 500 lbs. 
 then the series would have been perfectly regular, and would have 
 convinced us that this soil would bear the heaviest dressing of 
 manure with profit. Now compare Plot 5 with Plots 2 and 3. 
 The increase on Plot 5 without nitrogen is only 225 lbs., as com- 
 pared with 950 lbs. with nitrogen. We should, therefore, reason 
 that this soil needed all, or nearly all, the nitrogen given in Plot 2; 
 and, indeed, if we refer to the second column of figures, showing; 
 the weights of the new canes which will bear fruit in the coming 
 season we shall see that the growth of new canes, without 
 nitrogen, was even a little less than without any manure at all. 
 Now let us compare Plots 6 and 7 with the unmanured Plot 8. 
 If we were to judge from the yield of fruit alone we should form 
 the idea that a great portion of the phosphoric acid and potash 
 given in plot 2 could be dispensed with; but if we turn to the 
 weight of the new canes we shall see that without the phosphoric 
 acid or potash the growth was even slightly less than with no 
 manure at all. 
 
 Having, by some method, found out what plant foods our soil 
 requires, the next point to be considered is where to get these 
 
53 
 
 plant foods. Where are we to buy our nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 
 and potash ? If you were to go to a manure dealer and say you 
 wanted a ton of nitrogen, he would probably stare at you ; he 
 would not know what you meant. In the Melbourne market the 
 principal source of nitrogen as a plant food is sulphate of 
 ammonia, which is obtainable at the gas company's office for 
 £12 10s. a ton. Ammonia exists in coal gas as it first comes 
 from the retorts, and must be removed before the gas is fit for 
 consumption. It is removed by passing the gas through sul- 
 phuric acid, which absorbs and combines with the ammonia, 
 forming the crystalline salt known as sulphate of ammonia. 
 Ammonia consists of nitrogen to the extent of over 82 per cent., 
 and sulphate of ammonia contains 21 per cent, of nitrogen. Now, 
 from these figures we can ascertain the money value of nitrogen. 
 If sulphate of ammonia, containing 21 per cent, of nitrogen, sells 
 at £12 10s. per ton, then the nitrogen must be worth close on 
 £60 per ton. But the simplest method of reckoning its value is 
 to consider what would be the price of a material containing only 
 1 per cent, of nitrogen. Thus, sulphate of ammonia containing, as 
 it does, 21 per cent, of nitrogen is sold at £12 10s. per ton, there- 
 fore a substance containing only 1 per cent, would be worth close 
 ■on 12s. per ton. Thus we calculate the money values of manures 
 according to the value of 1 per cent, of the essential ingredients 
 per ton. So if we have presented to us a substance containing 
 8-J per cent, of readily soluble nitrogen, we know that it must be 
 worth eight and a half times 12s., that is to say, £5 per ton. 
 Another source of nitrogen is nitrate of soda. This contains 
 only 16 per cent, of nitrogen, and its value, according to 
 what we have already seen, would be sixteen times 12s., 
 that is to say, £9 12s. per ton. But, as a matter of fact, it 
 is never sold in Melbourne for less than £18, that is to say, 
 nearly twice its value.* In Europe, with its cold winters, the 
 nitrogen in nitrate of soda is more quickly taken up by fruit 
 trees and by root crops than the nitrogen of sulphate of ammonia; 
 but I have tried the two in comparison with each other five 
 or six times on fruit trees and root crops in this country, and 
 find that this superiority does not exist here ; in fact, if any- 
 thing, the nitrogen in the sulphate of ammonia gives the better 
 results. We do not, therefore, need to use nitrate of soda here. 
 But there are also other sources of nitrogen, as shown in the table 
 at the end of this lecture. 
 
 It will be seen from this table that nitrogen is obtainable in 
 sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, dried blood, dried offal, and 
 :also mixed with other things in dried night-soil, farm and stable 
 manure, and compost heaps, and in smaller quantities in dried fish, 
 some kinds of guanos, and bone dusts and meals. 
 
 * Since the above statement was made it has been offered at £12 lOs. per ton. ' 
 
54 
 
 I would recommend a careful study of the above list. It gives 
 a statement in brief of all the sources of nitrogen, phosphoric 
 acid, and potash-the three principal plant foods; and it pre- 
 sents the prices at which these various manures are now sold lu 
 Melbourne as compared with their real value.* It shows that 
 there are at present three really cheap manures offered, namely, 
 dried blood, real value about £4 10s., offered at £2 10s to 
 £3 10s.- concentrated superphosphate, real value £21, ottered at 
 £13 7s 6d • and highly concentrated potash sulphate, real value 
 £14 10s., offered at £12. These are the cheapest sources of 
 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash taken singly. In addition 
 to these are some cheap mixed manures, such as dried mght-soil, 
 worth about £2 to £3, offered at £1 to £1 15s. per ton ; some 
 samples of bone dust and offal dust also are offered at a low 
 price. On the other hand, there are some manures which are 
 constantly sold at prices above their intrinsic value. This is 
 nearly always the case with special mixtures. Speaking 
 generally, however, manure prices in Victoria are low as com- 
 pared with other countries ; and the wide-awake cultivator who- 
 takes pains to look well into the manure market can make some 
 very advantageous purchases. 
 
 To show what may be done in this respect, let us take a simple-; 
 illustration. Suppose a man wanted to manure his orchard or 
 vineyard, he buys, we will suppose, a mixed manure, which is 
 sold to him under the name of " orchard manure," at £14 per ton. 
 He is told to put on half-a-ton to the acre. This costs him £7 
 per acre, together with freight. On sending this to be analyzed 
 he finds that the half-ton of manure consists of 4 cwt. nitrate of 
 soda, at 18s., £3 12s.; 5 cwt. superphosphate, 16 per cent., at 
 9s., £2 5s.; 1 cwt. potash chloride, 62 per cent., at 20s., £1 ; 
 total, £6 17s. It is a good manure, and produces a very good, 
 effect, and, considering the ingredients of which it is mixed, the 
 charge for mixing has been only 6s. a ton, which is no great 
 thing. This half-ton of manure will have given 72 lbs. of 
 nitrogen, 90 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 70 lbs. of potash to the 
 acre of soil, and this will have cost him £7, exclusive of freight. 
 
 Now, let us see what this man might do in the way of cheaper 
 purchases. He now, we will suppose, buys his nitrogen as blood 
 manure, which contains 9 per cent, nitrogen, and for which he 
 pays £3 per ton. The nitrogen- contained in blood manure being 
 not quite so soluble as nitrate of soda nitrogen, he buys a little 
 more of it. But as the blood manure contains also a little phos- 
 phoric acid and potash, he needs to buy somewhat less super- 
 phosphate and potash, salt. He makes his mixture as follows : — 
 8 cwt. blood manure, containing 8S lbs. nitrogen, 9 lbs. phosphoric 
 
 • Since the delivery of thia lecture the prices in some oases have considerably altered. 
 See note at bottom of the "List of Plant-food Suppliers" at the end of this lecture. 
 
55 
 
 acid, 6 lbs. potash, at 3s., £1 4s.; 1% cwt. concentrated super- 
 phosphate, 45 per cent., containing 81 lbs. phosphoric acid, at 
 13s. 4^d., £1 Is. 4^d.; lyi^ cwt., potash sulphate, 54 per cent., 
 containing 66 lbs. potash, at 12s., 13s. 2^d.; cost of mixing, 
 3s. 5d.; total, £3 2s. By this arrangement he gets the same 
 amount of plant food for £3 2s. an acre that he did in the former 
 case by paying £7. And further, suppose that he had applied 
 the test plots to his soil, and had found it to be naturally rich 
 enough in potash, he could knock off the 13s. 2^d. for potash salt. 
 
 But suppose he were to buy dried night-soii containing 3 per 
 cent, nitrogen, 3^ per cent, phosphoric acid, and 2^ per cent, 
 potash. This substance being not quite so soluble as in the 
 blood manure and superphosphate mixture, he would require a 
 larger quantity. Suppose he bought this at £1 15s. per ton, and 
 used it at the rate of 1^ tons per acre he -would then be getting 
 as follows : — 1^ tons dried night-soil, containing 100 lbs. 
 nitrogen, 118 lbs. phosphoric acid, and 83 lbs. potash, at £1 15s., 
 £2 12s. 6d. Thus for 30s. an acre he would have got the same 
 result as he did in the first instance for £7 ; but the cost of 
 carriage and spreading on the land would haye been three times 
 as great. 
 
 This question of cost of carriage is a very important one, and 
 leads one to consider the advantage of concentrated manures. 
 Take, for instance, the potash manures. Suppose we wish 
 to buy a ton of potash. We may buy it in the form of 
 kainit at £4 10s. To buy a ton of potash in this form we 
 should have to pay £36, and the freight on H tons of material. 
 But if we were to buy it in, the form of highly concentrated sulphate 
 of potash, containing 53 per cent, potash, we should have to pay 
 only £22 16s., and the freight on 1 ton 18 cwt. The same in 
 regard to superphosphate. If we wanted to buy a ton of soluble 
 phosphoric acid we might do it by purchasing a low grade super- 
 phosphate, containing 16 per cent, phosphoric acid, and selling at 
 £7 10s.*; in this form we should pay for a ton of phosphoric acid 
 £47, and freight on 6^ tons of material. But if we were to buy 
 it in the form of concentrated superphosphate, containing 45 per 
 cent., and sold at £13 7s. 6d. we should have to pay only £29 
 14s. 6d., and freight on 2f tons material. The cultivator who is 
 a good business man will readily see the advantage of these con- 
 centrated manures. 
 
 Speaking of concentrated manures naturally leads us to con- 
 sider the most bulky and least concentrated of all these plant- 
 food suppliers, namely, farm-yard and stable manure. This 
 manure varies in value, reckoned according to average market 
 prices of plant food, at from 3s. 6d.up to lis. a ton. Its average 
 
 * But see note at bottom of table at the end of this lecture. 
 
56 
 
 value may be taken at about 7s., delivered on the land. If it 
 cannot be obtained delivered on the ground at that price, it is 
 almost certainly cheaper to buy the plant foods from other 
 sources. You will see that farm-yard manure contains less phos- 
 phoric acid than it does nitrogen and potash, therefore in using 
 this manure on average soils, such as the orchard soils 20 miles 
 round Melbourne, it should be supplemented with superphosphate. 
 To obtain from average farm-yard manure the same result as we 
 could from the mixtures above described we should have to use it 
 as follows :— 10 tons per acre stable manure, containing 100 lbs. 
 nitrogen, 60 lbs. phosphoric acid, 100 lbs. potash, at 7s., £3 10s.; 
 and 4-5th owt. concentrated superphosphate, containing 36 lbs. 
 phosphoric acid, at 13s. 4ld., 10s. 8d.; total, £4 Os. 8d. 
 
 Let us place these different methods of obtaining the same result 
 side by side and compare the cost :— 1. Special orchard manure 
 mixture, cost £7 per acre. 2. Stable manure and superphos- 
 phates mixed, cost £4 per acre. 3. Blood manure, concentrated 
 superphosphate and potash salt, cost £3 2s. per acre. 4. Dried 
 night-soil, cost £1 10s. per acre. No. 3 of the above methods 
 has the advantage of the others, namely, that its composition is 
 just what you like to make it, and you can make it to be just 
 Tfhat the soil requires. In all the other cases you may be pay- 
 ing for material which the soil does not require. If the soil does 
 not require potash, you cannot leave the potash out of the stable 
 manure or the night-soil. No. 4, however, is so cheap that even 
 if the potash it contains is not required still you get the value of 
 the money in other plant foods. The only objection to this last- 
 mentioned manure is the odour, but this is by no means so strong 
 as in the undried night-soil ; and the disease germs which might 
 have been contained in it have been destroyed by heat. 
 
 The extreme variability of manures, as shown by the table at 
 the end of this lecture, will indicate the advisability of always 
 buying them according to the results of analysis. There are no 
 respectable manure merchants who will not sell on these terms. 
 Buying without analysis is worse than buying a pig in a poke, 
 for if the pig be not worth the money given the loss is no great 
 thing, but if the manure be not what the soil requires the loss 
 is one affecting a whole season's yield from every acre of ground 
 that has been manured. 
 
 One word more before leaving the subject of stable and farm- 
 yard manure. It is often said that these small concentrated 
 manures will not have the same mechanical effect on the soil that 
 the bulky farm-yard manure has. This is true, but where such an 
 effect is required it can always be obtained by green manuring. 
 And by green manuring with peas or beans the soil not only 
 becomes broken up and rendered lighter and more porous, but the 
 peas and beans, like all leguminous crops, indirectly cause the soil 
 
57 
 
 to be enriched in nitrogen, so that they save the cost of supplying 
 nitrogen in the manure. This effect is shown in the following 
 illustration, which is engraved from a photograph taken by 
 Professor Dr. Wagner, of Darmstadt, in Germany. The illustra- 
 tion speaks for itself, and needs no explanation. 
 
 Manured with 
 phosphoric acid 
 »nd potash. 
 
 ^e- 
 
 Manured with phos- 
 phoric acid, potash, 
 and nitrogen ; the 
 nitrogen being given 
 as nitrate of soda. 
 
 Manured with 
 phosphoric acid 
 and potash. In 
 the previous 
 season mustard 
 was grown in 
 these pots and 
 afterwards dug 
 in as green 
 manuring. 
 
 Manured with phos- 
 phoric acid and pot- 
 ash. In the previous 
 season vetches were 
 grown in these pots 
 and afterwards dug 
 in as green manur- 
 ing. 
 
 Suppose then that we adopt this plan of green manuring with 
 peas or beans, we need only manure the ground with superphos- 
 phate and potash salt, sow the peas or beans, and plough them in 
 at blossoming time. Our expenses would then run as follows: — 
 IJ cwt. concentrated superphosphate at 13s. 4^d., £1 3s. 53..; 
 1^ cwt. potash salt, at 12s., 13s. 6d.; peas or bean seed, 4s.; total, 
 £2 Os. lid. This is one of the cheapest and most beneficial 
 methods of manuring the soil, and is especially to be recom- 
 mended at distances from Melbourne, where the freight on manure 
 is heavy. 
 
 On the whole, it may be said that manure prices in Victoria 
 are low as compared with other countries, and the wide-awake 
 cultivator who looks well into the manure market can make some 
 very advantageous purchases. This cheapness of manure is not 
 owing to the great quantity of manure in the market, but to the 
 small demand for it. A great deal of manure is exported from 
 Victoria ; it may be that more is exported than is used within the 
 colony. This is not because Victorian soils do not need manure. 
 There is no country in the world that is covered with rich first- 
 class soils. The majority of soils in all extensive countries are 
 
58 
 
 poor ones, and Victoria is no exception to tliis rule. I suppose ttat 
 amongst the hundreds of soils which I have examined at least 
 three-quarters of them have been what we should call third-class 
 soils; and the really first-class soils could be almost counted on one's 
 fingers. Victoria at present is looking for a return of prosperity 
 to its agricultural exports. What are we, then, to say to the fact 
 that perhaps the greater portion of the plant food which ought to 
 be used for the growth of this agricultural export is allowed to 
 be sent out of the country to feed the agriculture of other 
 lands ? 
 
 But, it is said, will manuring pay ? We are too poor ; we cannot 
 afford to manure. In answer, one has to say that, not only will 
 cultivation with rational manuring pay, but it is only when one 
 begins to manure that in the majority of cases cultivaticm 
 becomes a profitable business. It is cultivating without manuring 
 that does not pay. Only when people study their soils and 
 supply the crops with plant food in accordance with the require- 
 ments of the soils will the mass of them be able to rise from a 
 hand-and-mouth existence up to competence and comfort. 
 
 Now, to show you in conclusion what may be done by manur- 
 ing, let us turn again to the case, of Mr. Ewer's test plots in his 
 raspberry plantation at Childers. The results of these plots are 
 here reproduced from the first part of the lecture : — 
 
 Ebturns tbom Tests on Theeb-tbae-old Easpbbeeies bt 
 Mk. Ewees, Childees, 1892-3. 
 
 
 Weight of 
 
 Easpberriea per 
 
 Acre. 
 
 Estimated Weight 
 
 of New Canes 
 for Next Season.* 
 
 Plot 1. Complete manure, light dressing 
 
 Plot 2. Complete manure, medium dress- 
 ing 
 
 Plot 3. No manure 
 
 Plot 4. Complete manure, heavy dressing 
 
 Plot 5. Same as Plot 2, but no nitrogen... 
 
 Plot 6. Same as Plot 2, but no phosphoric 
 acid 
 
 Plot 7. Same as Plot 2, but no potash 
 
 Plot 8. No manure ... .". 
 
 Plot 9. Same as Plot 2, but nitrogen 
 given as nitrate of soda 
 
 Plot 10. Same as Plot 2, but twice as 
 much potash 
 
 lbs. 
 2,700 
 
 3,000 
 2,050 
 3,500 
 2,275 
 
 2,750 
 2,850 
 2,000 
 
 2,900 
 
 3,300 
 
 oz. per plot. 
 43 
 
 54 
 36i 
 62 
 35 
 
 45 
 47 
 49 
 
 62 
 
 65 
 
 hv Z^ui^tJFi'J^ ?^ the new oanes was estimated by measuring their length and thiclcnesB; 
 finmSlr» !,.■ ??*° together the cubical contents were approximately ascertained, aid 
 Irom this the weight was readily calculated ' 
 
59 
 
 Plot 4 was manured with 105 lbs. soluble nitrogen, 105 lbs. 
 soluble phospboric acid, and 105 lbs. soluble potash. This could 
 be obtained by the following mixture : — 1 1 cwt. dried blood, con- 
 taining 120 lbs. nitrogen, 12 lbs. phosphoric acid, 8 lbs. potash, at 
 3s., £1 13s.; 1|^ cwt. concentrated superphosphate, containing 97 
 lbs. phosphoric acid, 13s. 4|d., £1 5s. Id. ; 1| cwt. concentrated 
 potashsalt,containing99^1bs.potash,atl2s.,f 1 2s. 6d. — f4 0s.7d.; 
 freight and application, 10s.; total cost of manuring, £4 10s. 7d. 
 Now compare the yield of 3,500 Ibs.of raspberries peracre obtained 
 from Plot 4 with the yield of 2,050 Iba. obtained from Plot 3 
 without manure. There was an increase of 1,450 Ibs.of raspberries 
 due to the manuring. The profit of the transaction was as follows : — 
 Increased yield per acre, 1,450 lbs. raspberries, sold at 2^d., 
 j615 12 s.; cost of manure, £4 10s. 7d.; increased profit due to 
 manuring, £10 lis. 5d. Or compare Plot 10 with Plot 8, which 
 shows a similar profitable result with somewhat less outlay. 
 Fruit takes out of the soil much more potash than nitrogen and 
 phosphoric acid. Thus, for instance : — 
 
 
 Would remove from the Soil- 
 
 150 oases of— 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Phosphoric 
 Acid. 
 
 Potash. 
 
 Apples 
 
 Pears 
 
 Cherries 
 
 Plums 
 
 Gooseberries 
 
 Strawberries 
 
 lbs. 
 31 
 3i 
 6 
 
 n 
 
 104 
 
 lbs. 
 
 n 
 
 4| 
 4i 
 4i 
 
 7i 
 
 54 
 
 lbs. 
 
 6f 
 16 
 15 
 17 
 14 
 
 8i 
 
 It will be surmised from this that a good result might be 
 obtained by increasing the allowance of potash in the manure and 
 decreasing the nitrogen and phosphoric acid. This was done on 
 Plot 10. The nitrogen and phosphoric acid were only two-thirds 
 
60 
 
 of that given on Plot 4, but the potash was half as much again. 
 This would be given by the following mixture : — 
 
 7 J cwt. dried blood 
 
 IJ cwt. cont. superphosphate 
 
 2| cwt. potash salt 
 
 £1 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 Freight and cost of application 
 
 £3 
 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 2 
 10 
 
 Total cost of manure 
 
 £4 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,300 lbs. increased yield of raspberries, 
 at2^d-. 
 
 Cost of manure 
 
 £13 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 Increased profit per acre 
 
 £9 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 If the nitrogen were supplied by green manuring with peas, 
 the results would doubtless be still better. 
 
 I am unfortunately unable to quote more instances from my 
 experiments in fruit manuring. But I have dozens of similar 
 returns from my experiments with cereals, hay, peas, beans, roots, 
 and potatoes ; and there is no question about manuring being 
 profitable when carried out in a business-like way. Indeed it is 
 as I have already said, that, except in a few fortunate cases of 
 naturally rich soils, agriculture cannot be carried on as a highly 
 profitable business except with the liberal use of plant foods. 
 
 There is only one further matter remaining to be considered, and 
 that is in regard to the mode of applying the manures to the soil. 
 In manuring fruit trees it is advisable that the manures should 
 get down to a considerable depth. To this end the solubility of 
 the manures must be considered. The most soluble manures 
 are the nitrogen salts — sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda 
 — the potash salts, and the superphosphates. Next to these come 
 dried blood and dried night-soil. Farm-yard manure is partly 
 soluble and partly insoluble ; some of the insoluble gets very 
 slowly converted into the soluble kind, but a portion of it 
 becomes finally so fixed as to be of little use to plants. Bone 
 meal is readily made use of by plants having roots near the 
 
61 
 
 surface, but it only very slowly reaches deep roots. The same 
 remark applies probably to Thomas phosphate. Coarse bone dust 
 is so slowly dissolved that when placed in the surface soil it is of 
 scarcely any use to deep-rooted plants. And bone ash, bone 
 black, and mineral phosphates are of all manures the least soluble, 
 and, therefore, of the least use in orchards. In this connexion 
 I may mention a new and very promising mode of manuring fruit 
 trees, namely, that of putting the manure into holes 2 or 2^ feet 
 deep around each tree, there being from 1 to 4 such holes to each 
 tree according to size, and the holes being put down in different 
 places each year. By this method the manure gets at once to the 
 roots, and it does not cause that growth of weeds which results 
 from surface manuring. 
 
 In laying out an orchard it is a good plan to dig the holes for 
 the trees wide and deep, say, from 2 to 3^ feet deep, and to place 
 at the bottom of each hole from £y to 8 lbs. of coarse bone dust. 
 Before returning the soil to the hole it should be mixed with 
 from 2 lbs. to 5 lbs. of fine bone dust, and the upper foot or 18 
 inches should be mixed with about 4 lbs. to 10 lbs. of dried blood. 
 This amount of manure will generally serve until the trees come 
 into bearing. After that a complete dressing of manure, accord- 
 ing to the requirements of each soil, should be given each year, 
 the amount being spread in a circle of from 2 feet to 6 feet radius 
 around each tree, and dug or ploughed in. 
 
 In conclusion, I would emphasize what I have already said in 
 regard to the necessity and importance of rational manuring. 
 Amongst the many benefits which agriculture has gained from 
 science is a knowledge of the nature and action of plant foods. 
 Fifty years ago nothing certain was known on this subject 
 beyond the fact that increased crops were sometimes obtained by 
 putting certain things, chiefly farm-yard manure, into the soil. 
 Now, the reason why these things cause an increase of crop has 
 been ascertained, the composition of manures and the action of 
 each ingredient has been studied, and the nature and requirements 
 of different soils have been to a great extent investigated ; and 
 it has become possible, by applying in a business-like way the 
 knowledge so gained, to obtain the largest crops at the least 
 possible cost. Thus the sphere of profitable cultivation has been 
 considerably widened. I have in lectures and published reports 
 on several occasions shown from my own experiments in the field 
 what results it was possible to obtain. And I would now urge 
 cultivators in their own interests, and in the interests of the 
 country, to endeavour to obtain similar results for themselves. 
 Complete success may not attend their first efforts, but let them 
 try again until they succeed. And if they will consult me in 
 their efEorts, it will give me pleasure to assist them when possible 
 with counsel and advice. 
 
62 
 
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64 
 
 ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY: 
 
 SOIE ADYANTAGES TO BE DEEIVED FROM ITS STUDY. 
 
 Bt C. French, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., G-oveenment Entomologist. 
 
 (Uth July, 1893.) 
 
 The subject on which I have, by request, ventured to address 
 you this afternoon is one that, in the present state of affairs in 
 Victoria, would appear to be appropriate, inasmuch as we are 
 embarking in the cultivation of our rural industries to such an 
 extent as to cause us to hope that prosperity may return to us, 
 and that the prognostications of our pessimists and " crest- 
 droopers '" may not be realized. 
 
 When I allude to the large areas that, during the last few 
 years, have been taken up for the cultivation of grain, wine, and 
 fruit, it will at once strike those of us who were fortunate enough 
 to have listened to Mr. West's splendid lecture that we have 
 only as yet touched the fringe of our great natural resources. To 
 talk of over-production in either grain, wine, or fruit is only to 
 expose our little weaknesses and want of knowledge on the 
 subject. 
 
 It is not my intention to deal further with such matters ; still, 
 some allusion, as above, to these growing industries may not be 
 out of place. 
 
 In the early days of fruit-growing in the colony, when our late 
 venerable friends T. C. Cole, R. Watmaugh, Murdoch, and a few- 
 others led the way, they had comparatively little to contend with, 
 at least in the shape of pests, either insect or fungus. But since 
 the wholesale destruction of the valuable insectivorous birds, the 
 extensive importations of trees and plants from foreign countries, 
 and from other causes, the grower at the present time finds him- 
 self confronted with insect and other foes both numerous and 
 formidable. 
 
 Again, with the extension of the orchard and farming area into 
 thickly-timbered districts, native insects, formerly confined to in- 
 digenous plants, have thought fit to attack our imported trees, 
 these latter being, I suspect, more palatable to them than many 
 of our native gums, wattles, &c. 
 
 _ The destruction of our valuable auxiliaries— the insect-destroy- 
 ing birds— has, without a doubt, been the cause of an enormous 
 increase in the number of noxious insects, all and sundry, and 
 nothing could have been more suicidal than for us to have allowed 
 this destruction to continue as it has done. 
 
65 
 
 To every dark cloud, however, we are told there is a silver 
 lining, and this we hope will be the case in the matter of the 
 future protection of our insectivorous birds ; and owing to the 
 persistent efforts of the Field Naturalists' Club, supported by the 
 Zoological Society, together with my own humble efforts in the 
 same direction, this has been taken in hand by the Governments 
 of the day, the result being that many of our best birds are per- 
 manently protected throughout the year. 
 
 As to the causes leading to such a wholesale slaughter of these 
 birds I have little to say, but if I were to express my feelings on 
 the subject I fear it would be much more impressive than edifying 
 to you. I feel, however, th^t, to put it mildly, a deal of the 
 destruction has been caused through a want of knowledge of the 
 subject, and this is where I consider that an acquaintance both 
 practical as well as scientific with economic entomology, coupled 
 with ornithology, is absolutely indispensable to those engaged in 
 our great rural industries. 
 
 Within the present century, at least according to Kirby and 
 Spence in their delightful volumes on entomology, one of the prin- 
 cipal causes of the little attention paid to entomology in England 
 has been the ridicule and almost, we may say, contempt which 
 have by the ignorant and unthinking been lavished upon those 
 who ventured to preach any of the advantages to be gained by a 
 •study of such matters ; but in a comparatively few years things 
 in this respect have vastly changed, and we have but to look to 
 America with its splendidly equipped entomological institutions, 
 and as their systems are being followed by Europe and the 
 colonies also, they are thus leading the way in such eminently 
 useful work. 
 
 Great naval and military commanders have told us how that to 
 be fully acquainted with the habits or movements of an enemy is 
 to assist them materially in the annihilation of the latter, and^ so 
 it is with ourselves in connexion with a knowledge of insect life 
 in all its interesting though oft-times very destructive bearings. 
 We must be able to follow the practice of a physician or surgeon, 
 viz., to diagnose where such is required, and, having found out 
 the true cause and seat of the disease, then proceed to apply, if 
 possible, the remedy. 
 
 Supposing, for example, that a young man — and it is for such 
 that this little discourse has been prepared — who is tired of the 
 apparently dazzling but very temporary pleasures of city life, 
 wishes to go on to the land and commence an independent busi- 
 ness of his own, say, as an orchardist. He will first of all consult 
 some good authority as to the best situation to commence 
 operations. Having made up his mind, he will naturally wish to 
 know more about that which he is about to undertake. He will, 
 if convenient, obtain suitable books, attend practical lectures 
 
 826. E 
 
66 
 
 ■bearing upou the subj ect in which he has ventured. He will prepare 
 himself for his newly-imposed task by seeking for practical infor- 
 mation from all and every available source. His evenings, when 
 not otherwise taken up, should be spent in the study of such 
 subjects as the chemistry of soils, rotation of crops, seasons, and 
 diseases of all kinds. Lastly, he should, if possible, provide him- 
 self with a good powerful lens, supposing he cannot yet afford 
 a microscope, and this, together with his note-book, should be his 
 constant pocket companions ; he may then commence his study, 
 during his leisure hours of economic entomology. 
 
 My young friends will perhaps say — " Oh ! this advice may be 
 all very well, but what time will a man have left after having 
 spent his day in the field or orchard, and what inclination will he 
 have, being tired, for either literary work or for the study of 
 entomology ?" My reply is, that to the man who is intellectually 
 and studiously inclined nothing hardly is impossible. 
 
 In the room to-day, brought here for your inspection, are some 
 of the most beautiful illustrations of insects and their life-histories 
 that have ever been done in Australia. These illustrations, mark 
 you, have been prepared by my young friend, C. C. Brittlebank, 
 in after hours — often after having followed the plough from day- 
 light till dark. No light work on such land as that at Pentland 
 Hills, I can assure you. If you require information on these 
 subjects read Smiles' " Life of a Scotch Naturalist " or " Lives 
 of the Earlier Lancashire Botanists." These works ought to 
 be possessed by every student, having been written when there 
 was no such thing known to the toiler as eight hours work, eight 
 hours recreation, and eight hours rest. So you see, that without 
 wishing to deprive you of your share of athletic sports, you can 
 spend your spare time profitably, both for yourself and probably 
 for others also. 
 
 With the microscope — and very useful instruments of this kind 
 may now be purchased at a cheap rate — there is to be derived 
 endless pleasure. I allude to pleasure combined with profit. 
 
 I do not mean that our embryo orchardist should, by the study 
 of the above subjects, neglect for a moment his necessary duties. 
 I well recollect my early horticultural training, when we used, 
 after the day's work was finished, around the fire at night, and in 
 the season, either do much of our grafting, label-making, writing, 
 &c., &c., with our instructor by our side; and who would, that is, 
 when we thought proper to behave ourselves, read to us from 
 such works as Paxton's Dictionary, Loudon's Encyclopcedia, and 
 others of the grand old works which, even in modern times, we 
 cannot afEord to despise. Thus many a pleasant and instructive 
 evening was passed by those learning the business. 
 
 The competitive system of giving prizes for the best essays and 
 collections, prepared by permission of the Department, and assisted, 
 
67 
 
 by your instructors, should be the means of greatly stimulating 
 this feeling of emulation amongst the students. In Part I. of my 
 new book I have given some brief instructions for the collecting 
 of insects and the preservation of the same; and, if anything 
 further bearing upon the subject be required at any time, it can 
 be had for the asking. 
 
 Our young man may now be supposed, with the aid of a few 
 pounds in cash, a ffiir stock of common sense, diligence, and a set 
 of garden appliances, including a good spray-pump, to have made 
 a fair start. His trees have been well selected from advice 
 supplied, probably by either our friend, Mr. Neilson, or other 
 experts. The chemist, we will suppose, has been asked to furnish 
 some particulars as to the soil and its constituent parts, and the 
 work may be fairly said to have commenced. 
 
 The trees thrive well and show signs of permanency, when lo ! 
 our young friend detects something wrong with his trees, which 
 are either looking sickly or display signs which, to the practised 
 eye, are not to be mistaken, of some pest more or less insidious in 
 its attacks upon the tree. What is best to be done ? Having 
 thought the matter over, he determines to seek advice either from 
 his books or from those whom a paternal Government have 
 appointed for such work. He sends down specimens, obtains the 
 necessary information, and all appears to be well. It is here 
 where a practical knowledge of these diseases makes itself apparent. 
 He discovers, for example, that his peach trees are covered with 
 little brown insects with longish antennfe (or horns), with two 
 projections sticking out from near the extremity of the body. 
 Now the person who does not know, or has not read anything 
 about the nature and habits of this pest, often says to himself — 
 " Ah ! I have heard somewhere of Paris green. I will give 
 my tree a good dose, and so surprise our little brown friends." 
 He gets the London purple or Paris green and sprays his trees ; 
 the result being that he finds the aphides there as usual, and not in 
 the least disconcerted by what he considers his remarkably 
 ingenious device for their destruction. Why and how is this ? 
 I will endeavour to tell you. 
 
 The aphides, as well as the very large family of so-called plant- 
 bugs, are wholly suctorial in their habits, that is, they have a 
 rostrum or beak with which they pierce the bark, and through 
 which the sap of the tree is sucked out. It will thus be seen that 
 such useful preparations as the arsenical compounds are next to 
 useless against the above-mentioned insects, as their " beaks " are 
 thus far below the reach of such applications. 
 
 The man who has studied the habits of these creatures for 
 himself knows this much, and proceeds to destroy the hordes of 
 little insects by spraying with a liquid that will kill by coming 
 into contact with them. (I need hardly tell you what to use, as 
 
 E 2 
 
68 
 
 this has been done in Part I. of my Handbook, and also in Part II., 
 the latter being now in the hands of the binder.) You will thus 
 see that by making a study of the subject you can save a deal of 
 useless experiment, and devote the time which you would have 
 spent therewith in a more profitable direction. 
 
 We will suppose the aphides on the branches to have been all 
 disposed of — no easy matter, I can assure you — when lo ! next 
 morning we find countless numbers swarming up the stems of the 
 tree. Then the man who neither reads nor observes for himself 
 would doubtless say — " Why, those that I sprayed yesterday have 
 recovered from the efiects of the spraying, and are as lively as 
 ever again." But the careful observer will examine with his lens 
 the parts of the tree sprayed with proper material, and thus satisfy 
 himself as to the efiicacy or otherwise of his attempts to destroy 
 them, and, if successful, he would look over the tree for further 
 indications of their presence. 
 
 The trained man knows that the insects are on the roots, where 
 they hybernate, as well as on the tops. He at once concludes 
 that he should first strike at the " root " of the disease. Whereas 
 the man who knows nothing of the subject, and probably cares 
 little either, proceeds to lament and predict the destruction of all 
 orchards, and not infrequently winds up by chopping out his trees. 
 This man, then, probably returns to the city again to seek employ- 
 ment likely in some menial position, where he thinks, as did the 
 historical London tallow-chandler, " that the profits, though slow, 
 are sure." 
 
 When one goes on the land, whether it is for the purpose of 
 growing anything, from wool to special products, he will find that 
 there are leisure moments which may be profitably spent in the 
 interesting and useful study of economic entomology. Laying 
 aside the many marvellous and wonderful provisions which nature 
 has provided even the simplest of insects with a means of main- 
 tenance, the study is both useful, intellectual, and delightful. 
 We will suppose that a grower comes across an insect eating the 
 epidermis, or outer skin, from the foliage of his fruit trees, and 
 thereby admitting the direct rays of the sun at a time when such 
 may not be desirable. If he has a well-trained eye, and knows 
 a,nything of the subject, he will naturally think to himself, well, 
 I will poison these leaves, and when the insects eat the tissue of 
 the leaves they will all be destroyed. He gets out his sprayer, 
 gives the trees a good spraying, and finds in a few hours his 
 caterpillars dead under the trees. His knowledge that the leaves 
 have been eaten by insects which are not suctorial therefore proves 
 to be of practical use to him. 
 
 As an example of " how not to do it," we will take the ease 
 of a grower (I have seen many) who, whilst either digging, 
 planting, or ploughing, keeps his gun near to his hands. Ask 
 
69 
 
 him why he carries his gun, and he will prohably tell you that he 
 has it to shoot the magpies {Gymnorhina) which destroy his 
 crops. It possibly has never struck him that our common bush 
 magpie, although it will occasionally eat a little grain, also 
 grapes, is one of the most valuable of our native birds. It 
 follows the plough and spadesman, picking up the grubs as they 
 are turned out of the ground, and is the faithful friend and com- 
 panion of the ploughman. 
 
 Our old " friend, the laughing-jackass (Daoelo gigas), also 
 comes in for his share of abuse and persecution from the 
 ignorant. I have seen many of these birds shot just because 
 they happened to be perching on some high tree near an orchard. 
 Surely this must be something worse than ignorance on the part 
 of those holding such an opinion. Still many of these con- 
 temptible pot-shotters might, if the matter of the economy of the 
 bird was properly explained to them, be induced to see the error 
 of their ways, or by a little gentle persuasion, as the following 
 anecdote will show, be compelled to either do so, or pay dearly 
 for the luxury of killing : — A few months since two very fine 
 specimens of the native turkey or bustard ( Choriotis Australis) 
 made their appearance in a certain district ; and after the pro- 
 clamation to protect the turkey " all the year round " issued by 
 the Commissioner of Customs at the request of myself, and kindly 
 supported and forwarded by Mr. Martin, Secretary for Agricul- 
 ture. Here was a chance for the so-called sportsmen. Away 
 they went, and brought back in triumph (which was, however, 
 short lived) the two identical turkeys which they had shot as 
 expected. All appeared to be going along smoothly until they 
 chanced to meet the local policeman, who promptly summoned 
 them to the court, and they were fined £5 each for shooting the 
 protected turkeys, together with costs and the confiscation of the 
 birds, which were probably eaten and enjoyed by the policeman 
 and his family. 
 
 Most of us recollect the serious outbreak of phylloxera that 
 occurred in the Geelong district, and for which we were wholly 
 unprepared. Although I am one of those who believe in the 
 efiicacy of the action taken by the Government of the day in 
 suppressing this fearful scourge, I think, however, that if we had 
 been better acquainted with the pest, and the remedies which in 
 Europe and America have been tried, but with only, it is true, 
 partial success, we might have thought twice before resorting to 
 such extreme, though very necessary, measures. We now know 
 something of the aerial as well as of the root forms of this 
 wonderful little insect, and this knowledge has enabled those 
 situated in the great wine districts of Europe and elsewhere to 
 bring into use the various means which have been tried for its 
 eradication. 
 
70 
 
 When the great scourge of locusts took place in Africa, and 
 later on in America, Cyprus, and, even in our own southern 
 colonies, and, although the plague is of ancient origin, little 
 ■was hitherto known of its life-history. Nowadays, however, 
 the inhabitants of these hot countries have been able, by a patient 
 and exhaustive study of these terrible insects, in many instances 
 to be partially successful in coping with what would appear to 
 have been a singularly hopeless task. It was found that there 
 were two special periods at which they could be successfully 
 attacked, viz., when in the egg stage ; and, secondly, when in 
 the newly-hatched or " hopping " stage ; the former being accom- 
 plished by the collecting of the eggs, the authorities paying the 
 collectors so much per bushel for same. The second plan consists 
 in driving the young locusts, which were found by observation to 
 be travelling always in the one direction. (I have had a rough 
 sketch made of the latter plan from a photograph taken by a 
 friend who took part in the locust destruction in Algeria. This 
 plate I have brought for your inspection.) When the young 
 locusts are hatched they travel for a few days in a circle, and 
 after they have obtained sufficient strength they commence their 
 onward march in one direction. During this march they eat up 
 every living plant which they can manage to digest. They have 
 a wonderful appetite, and when in the winged state will devastate 
 the whole vegetation of a country in no time. 
 
 The screens as shown in the sketch, also in the model, often 
 extend for a hundred or more miles over mountains and rivers ; 
 and where labour is of little value the number of locusts destroyed 
 by means of these screens is simply beyond all attempt at calcu- 
 lation. 
 
 In Australia, however, I am afraid that until the interior 
 becomes more settled, and owing also to the comparatively high 
 price of labour, an attack on the locusts on such an extensive 
 scale as in the countries before mentioned would be well nigh 
 impossible. 
 
 At present we know a good deal concerning the life-history of 
 these pests, and, partly for the purpose of refuting a statement 
 that our Department of Agriculture were too late in taking action, 
 I obtained freshly-deposited eggs and had them hatched artifi- 
 cially. After making allowance for difference in temperature, &c., 
 I found that we had nearly two months in which to attack them 
 before they assumed the winged stages. These experiments, 
 which I undertook principally for the defence of the Department, 
 and partly for my own information, conclusively disproved the 
 assertion that the Department had been dilatory in the matter, 
 and also proved that it had done its best to induce the settlers to 
 band together for the destruction of this terrible enemy. 
 
71 
 
 Before closing my few remarks about the locusts, it may interest 
 you to know that for some time past I have been trying to find 
 time for the'preparation of an illustrated treatise on this important 
 subject. Owing to pressure of work, however, I have not yet 
 been able to get it ready. The coloured plates are ready, speci- 
 mens of which are here to-day for your inspection ; and in this 
 connexion I may be allowed to point out some of the difficulties 
 under which one labours when preparing books of this kind. 
 The notes are got ready, and you place them before you on your 
 table, when lo ! a knock is heard, and a visitor is announced ; 
 or else you are besieged with letters asking for information on 
 matters all and sundry. I would here like to commend to my 
 youthful hearers the excellent practice of replying to all letters, 
 if at all possible, on the same day as that on which they are 
 received. I mention this as some of you may at a future time 
 hold a similar position to that held by our experts at the present 
 time. If you are at literary work correspondence should not, if 
 possible, be allowed to accumulate. It is a bad practice, as a 
 grower when he writes for your advice is no doubt anxiously 
 awaiting the reply to his request for information. Reply at once. 
 The matter is then off your mind, and you are ready for the next 
 day and the work required of you. 
 
 In the early part of last year I received several caterpillars of 
 the " Celery Vine Moth " ( ChcBrocampa celerid). In some in- 
 stances they were described to me as " horrid things with horns 
 on. their heads" (the so-called horn is fixed at the other end), and 
 that when handled they " would ' spit ' and fly back." I was 
 anxious, of course, to interview this "monster," when to my 
 astonishment it proved to be the larva of the beautiful Hawk 
 moth, which you will find figured in Plate XIX., page 108, of 
 Part II. of my new book on insect pests, an advance copy of which 
 I have obtained to show you this afternoon. If these persons had 
 taken the trouble to place one of these caterpillars in a box and 
 fed it with freshly gathered vine leaves, they would have been 
 able to trace the insect from the grub to the pupa, and from thence 
 to the perfect insect. This would have been very little trouble, 
 and from that time they would have had a practical acquaintance 
 with the habits and life-history of one of the worst caterpillar 
 pests of the vine. 
 
 How often has it happened that a traveller who, by stress of 
 weather or from other causes, has had to refrain from accomplish- 
 ing that for which he had left home, and has had to pass many a 
 weary hour at some country hotel, and who has had a bitter experi- 
 ence, that is, if he be an intellectual person, in walking about 
 doing nothing ? Whereas had he been a naturalist his spare time 
 could have been agreeably and profitably spent in observing and 
 collecting some of the insects or plants of the district. As to 
 
72 
 
 those who know how to spend their leisure profitably and intel- 
 lectually at the same time, more especially in the delightful study 
 of nature and her handiwork, the feeling becomes one of intense 
 pleasure. You have also the feeling that you are not only adding 
 to the store of your own knowledge, but in all probability making 
 observations which may be of use to some one else, and that some 
 one will in all probability be the grower. 
 
 Kirby, one of the most delightful and practical of our great 
 English writers on entomology, remarks " that entomology is un- 
 questionably the best fitted for thus disciplining the youthful 
 mind, and simply from these circumstances, that its objects have 
 life and are gifted with surprising instinct admirably calculated 
 to attract youthful attention, and are to be met with everywhere." 
 " It is not meant to undervalue the good effects of the study of 
 botany or mineralogy, but it is self-evident that nothing inanimate 
 can excite such interest in the mind of a young person as beings 
 endowed with vitality, exercising their powers and faculties in so 
 singular a way, which, as Reaumur says, are not only alive them- 
 selves but confer animation upon the leaves, fruits, and flowers 
 that they inhabit, which every walk offers to view, and on which 
 new observations may be made without end.'' " Besides these 
 advantages no study affords a fairer opportunity of leading the 
 young mind by a natural and pleasing path to the great truths of 
 religion, and of impressing it with the most lively ideas of the 
 power, wisdom, and greatness of the Creator." 
 
 We have thus said a little, only a little to be sure, concerning 
 the use of entomology in enabling one to know something about 
 insects that are destructive to crops, but there is another aspect 
 of the question, and that is the advantages to be gained in being 
 able to tell a destructive insect from a beneficial one. 
 
 Take for example our little ladybird {Leis conformis) which, 
 when in the larval state, is so destructive to aphides all and sundry. 
 It is no uncommon occurrence for growers, I mean those who have 
 not taken the trouble to think or read for themselves, to send me 
 these useful little insects as something to be dreaded, and asking 
 to be supplied with an effective remedy. Again, I have seen 
 people shaking these, their best friends in the insect line, on to a 
 cloth and destroying them wholesale. Surely this must be for 
 the want of knowing better, as a very cursory glance over any 
 aphis-infested tree will disclose the presence of numerous ugly- 
 looking grub-like forms busy devouring the aphides in a wholesale 
 and voracious manner. 
 
 Then there are the Hemorobidw, or lace-wings, which, in the 
 larval state, like wolves in a sheep-fold, make great havoc amongst 
 the aphides. I must refer you to Part II. of my book for a more 
 lengthy description of these two valuable " insect helps " to the 
 
73 
 
 fruit-grower. In France, we are told, boys are employed to pre- 
 vent the birds, chiefly sparrows, from destroying these useful little 
 insects. 
 
 The Syrphidae, flies whose larvffi are armed with a singular 
 mandible furnished like a trident with three points with which 
 they transfix their prey. These grubs are most destructive to 
 aphides of all kinds. (On Fig. 9 of the chart which I show you 
 to-day you will see the larvse in the act of killing an aphis.) 
 
 A large group of Hymenoptera, wasp-like insects, are most 
 merciless destroyers of insects, especially amongst the Lepidoptera, 
 that is, butterflies and moths. They do not, however, confine, by 
 any means, their attacks to members of this large order of insects, 
 as even the destructive Cecidomyia, or Hessian fly, has its 
 enemies in certain minute species of a genus closely allied to 
 Ichneumonidw. In Europe no less than three species of these 
 little flies are known to render us valuable help in destroying the 
 larvse of this dread scourge of the wheat-grower. 
 
 In Victoria we have a number of beetles, especially amongst 
 the carabidse, which, both in the larval and perfect state, destroy 
 vast quantities of grubs which afiect our cereal crops, grass, 
 lands, lawns, &c. I had one of these, our largest species 
 (^Hyperion Schrcetteri) alive to show you how he would demolish 
 either a grub or a moth. Unfortunately, however, for me at 
 least, an unfriendly rat got into the box, the lid of which I had 
 incautiously left off, and in the morning nothing but a few frag- 
 ments were left on which I could ponder as to the wrong principle 
 of counting one's chickens before they are hatched. 
 
 Spiders also, at least most of them, are very useful animals, 
 more especially as they are destructive to boring insects, also 
 those which hybernate under the bark of our native trees. One 
 ( Vocconia) which we know . by the common name of tarantula, 
 which it is not, being a perfect glutton, as the piles of insect 
 debris, i.e., wing-cases, &c., will show. 
 
 The tale has been told of gallant officers who were fearless in 
 the face of an enemy, but would feel very uneasy in the imme- 
 diate presence of a huge spider, and although they are useful we 
 must be careful, as many of them bite sharply, and a few kinds are 
 also venomous. 
 
 The economy of some of our much despised hornets, more 
 especially of the genera Sphex, Pompilius, and other large kinds, 
 which we know principally by their orange-yellow bodies, often 
 banded with black, and some of us by having felt their formidable 
 sting, is well worth the trouble which it would entail in watching 
 some of their peculiar habits, and as destroyers of grubs (above 
 ground), centipedes, scorpions, cicadse, &c., they have few 
 equals. 
 
It would take hours for me to give you even a brief account of 
 the many advantages to be gained by a study of economic insects, 
 as the subject is not only interesting and useful, but also well 
 nigh endless. I can, however, promise you that should the 
 Department so desire it, and your instructors think fit to ask for 
 another discourse on these lines, I will be most willing to place 
 my humble efforts at your disposal. 
 
 As the days are now short, and the daylight is fast passing 
 away, I must conclude by saying that to be successful we must be 
 practical as well as energetic, always willing to learn from those 
 who are willing to impart their knowledge to those requiring it, 
 and never " setting ourselves up " as knowing everything, as we 
 can learn something from the humblest. In these days of bustle, 
 turmoil, and keen competition, it behoves every one of us to be 
 on the alert, and the grower who is able to discriminate between 
 his insect enemies and friends must surely have a better chance 
 than those who know nothing of the subject. As for botany, 
 what shall I say of it ? Nothing further than to remark that the 
 same rule which applies to the use of a study of entomology will 
 apply, as our friends Baron von Mueller and Mr. McAlpine can 
 tell you better than I can, to botany ; not forgetting chemistry, 
 which is probably the most valuable of all the applied sciences. 
 If I were asked whether I would prefer the study of botany to 
 that of entomology, I feel sure, from previous experiences, I 
 should reply that I wauld prefer to study both. Do not, when 
 you have gained a little scientific knowledge, look with a superior 
 sort of air upon the practical orchardist, as he, having better 
 chances often of observation in orchards than you may have, will 
 be able to teach you many a practical lesson which may serve 
 you in good stead. The time is upon us when we must use our 
 heads as well as our hands, and the end of all this will probably 
 be, as the great Darwin has told us, the survival of the fittest. 
 
75 
 
 GLIMPSES OF SOME BRITISH BOTANICAL 
 GARDENS AND THEIR CONSERVATORIES. 
 
 Bt W. R. G-uilfoyle, F.L.S., Dieector Melbourne 
 Botanic Gardens.* 
 
 (llth August, 1893.) 
 
 Having been granted a holiday by the Government some three 
 years ago for the purpose of visiting Europe, I made the best use 
 of the opportunities thus afforded me of seeing the principal gardens 
 and parks, public and private, of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, 
 France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. 
 
 During my travels I saw so much in the way of gardening and 
 horticulture that was really interesting and useful to me that I 
 devoted my time almost entirely to wandering from one garden 
 or park to another, until I had fairly exhausted my holiday. 
 
 It may truly be said that Britain itself is a garden from one 
 end to the other, so beautiful in the simplicity of nature and so 
 frequent, so extensive and so well eared for, are the private 
 parks, gardens, and ornamental grounds of the wealthy classes, 
 and so liberally are the places of public resort and recreation 
 endowed. In dealing with the subject " Some British Botanical 
 Gardens and their Conservatories," I have endeavoured to 
 describe, as concisely as possible, the principal points of interest 
 in five of the most instructive of these scientific institutions, 
 referring also to some of the rare and beautiful plants they 
 contain. 
 
 I had the advantage of seeing the Royal Botanic Gardens of 
 Kew under favorable circumstances, and, although to them must 
 fairly be conceded the pride of place, as being the finest in exist- 
 ence as scientific gardens, I cannot agree that they possess any 
 strikingly picturesque natural features or that they contain many 
 examples of high-class landscape art, in fact, they were never 
 intended as such ; they are what might be termed a botanical 
 map of the world. 
 
 * The lecture was illustrated by coloured drawings (life size) of the 
 following plants : — Nelumhium speciosum (lotus lily), Nepenthes (pitcher 
 plant), SarrcLcenia (side-saddle plant), Anthurium (flamingo flower), Brownea 
 macrophylla, Musa coccinea (scarlet banana), Rqfflesia Arnoldi (root flower), 
 anA Udoulia eximia (New Zealand vegetable sheep). 
 
76 . 
 
 The Kew Gardens and Arboretum contain the largest collec- 
 tion of living and dried plants known, obtained from every clime, 
 and afford facilities for the study of the science of botany and 
 horticulture which no other institution of the kind has been able 
 to eclipse, if even to approach. The cost of keeping them up 
 amounts to upwards of £25,000 per year. 
 
 Of course to give a detailed description of all the subjects of 
 striking interest in these gardens would take up far more time 
 than could be possibly devoted to them, even in a fairly compre- 
 hensive lecture ; indeed, it would necessitate many visits to Kew 
 before the enormous amount of material therein accumulated and 
 classified could be even superficially grasped. Nevertheless 
 there are certain features which, from their importance and 
 bearing on botanical science generally, call for more than a mere 
 passing remark ; I allude to the various conservatories and the 
 museums of economic botany. The palm house of Kew, one of 
 the finest and largest in the world, is 362 feet long, 100 feet 
 wide, and 66 feet in height, having wings 50 feet wide and 
 30 feet high. The central part of this great conservatory is 
 encircled by a gallery 33 feet from the ground, and ascended by 
 spiral staircases. Visitors are thus enabled to view from above 
 the canopy of rich and varied tropical leafage which arches 
 over the pathways and obscures the roof. The glass (about 
 45,000 square feet) is sKghtly tinged with green, to obviate the 
 scorching effect of direct sunlight. The magnificent colleetion 
 of palms, for the cultivation of which 'the house was primarily 
 intended, comprises some hundreds of kinds, but mingled with 
 them, towering high or fighting for existence below, there is a 
 variety of other tropical vegetation which is marvellous to the 
 beholder. 
 
 On a lawn to the north of the palm house is a T-shaped house 
 of various temperature, consisting of a central area, occupied by 
 the great " Victoria Regia, or Royal Water Lily," from South 
 America ; two lateral wings, one for economic plants. and one for 
 temperate and tropical orchids ; a back wing, used as a tropical 
 stove ; a compartment for begonias and Gesneracese, and for 
 Cape heaths, fig-marigolds, &c. 
 
 No less than 1,400 species of orchids are growing in the Kew 
 conservatories, and of the most showy kinds there are perhaps 
 eight or ten specimens of each. The most recent enumeration of 
 the number of species known, to say nothing of mere varieties or 
 hybrids, is said by Sir Joseph Hooker to be upwards of 5,000. 
 
 A succulent house, 200 feet long and 30 feet wide, is mainly 
 devoted to those plants of warm and arid countries which are 
 characterized either by excessive succulence or by the converse 
 condition of extreme dryness and rigidity. The plants in this 
 
77 
 
 house, as is the case in the temperate and tropical fern houses, 
 are all arranged in groups, closely allied, and the more important 
 ones are the cactuses or " Indian figs," euphorbias, bromelias, 
 dasylirions, dracsenas, beaucarneas, yuccas, aloes, agaves, cras- 
 sulas, rocheas, sempervivum or " house leeks," echeverias, 
 mammillarias, opuntiais, and cereus. Among the latter was the 
 celehrntei Cereus gig anteus (called by the Mexicans "suwarrow"), 
 which in the Rocky Mountains imparts a singular aspect to the 
 scenery ; its enormous tall stems, 50 to 60 feet in height, with 
 diameter of about 2 feet, having the appearance of telegraph 
 posts. 
 
 In one of the tropical stoves I saw for the first time a young 
 plant of the double cocoa-nut palm, or " coco-de-mer " (^Lodoieea 
 sechellarurn), the fruits of which, found floating about the sea 
 prior to the discovery of the Seychelles Islands, in 1743, puzzled 
 so many botanists, and gave rise to many absurd and fabulous 
 tales. 
 
 One of the tropical houses is devoted to the great group of 
 AroidecB and MarantaceoB, the latter order showing all the prin- 
 cipal kinds of ginger and arrowroot ; the Cyclanthacem, embracing 
 the closely allied Fandanus, " screw pine " or vacona, from 
 Mauritius, and of which sugar bags or sacks are made ; also the 
 pepper tribe, Piperacece. Among the aroids, which abound 
 chiefly in .tropical swamps and humid forests, were many 
 splendid anthuriums or "flamingo flower," Dieffenhachias or 
 "Dumb-cane," with their spotted leafage, and the Coloeasia anti- 
 quorum or " taro," so well Tsnown and valued as an esculent in the 
 islands of the Pacific. The great aroid, Amorphophallus titanum, 
 which flowered at Kew three years ago, is a native of Sumatra. 
 It is a herbaceous plant of gigantic proportions, and of its kind 
 eclipses all others. The spadix of the flower is 5 feet high, and 
 the spathe 3 feet in diameter. The divided blade of the leaf covers 
 an area of 45 feet in circumference. Among the peppers {Piper) 
 was the "kava" plant of Fiji, from which is prepared a stimu- 
 lating beverage. The root of this plant is chewed by young 
 boys or girls, and the juice thus extracted, together with the 
 pulp, and water poured on, is placed in a bowl, and after strain- 
 ing through a piece of " tappa " (cloth made of the bast of 
 Brousonettia papyrifera or " paper mulberry "), is drunk with 
 avidity by the chiefs and others assembled. 
 
 One of the greatest boons to botanical students is the three 
 museums, and 1 cannot do better than to quote the words of Sir 
 Joseph Hooker (the late director of the gardens), as given in a 
 handbook : — 
 
 " The object of these museums is to show the practical appli- 
 cations of botanical science. They teach us to appreciate the 
 
78 
 
 general relations of the vegetable world to man. We learn from 
 them the sources of the innumerable products furnished by the 
 vegetable kingdom for our use and convenience, whether as 
 articles of food, of construction, and application in the arts of 
 medicine, &c." 
 
 Museum No. 1 contains the collections illustrative of the pro- 
 ducts, &c., of the dicotyledonous and gymnospermous divisions. 
 The arrangement is eminently practical, the contents being 
 systematically arranged, numbered, and labelled. The building 
 itself is a plain brick one, of three floors, and was opened to the 
 public in 1857. It is filled with glazed cases, each of which 
 contains specimens of raw and manufactured products of the 
 vegetable kingdom, consisting of food, medicine, articles of 
 manufacture, and woods used in construction, &c. 
 
 In this museum, also, are specimens in every stage of growth 
 of that most singular plant, Welwitsehia mirabilis, discovered by 
 Dr. Welwitsch, in South-western Africa, about half way between 
 the equator and the Cape, in 1859 ; and to quote Sir J. Hooker's 
 description of it — " Has a dwarf woody trunk, seldom rising 
 more than a few inches above the ground, with a diameter often 
 of several feet, and a single pair of leaves, usually torn to 
 ribbons, which spring from the margin of the trunk, and persist 
 through the life-time of the plant, which it is estimated may 
 reach 100 years. It is related botanically to the pines and firs 
 Conifera, and is remarkable as presenting — associated with the 
 simplest type of structure in its vegetable organs — a more 
 complex form of flower than we find elsewhere in the group." 
 
 Another most extraordinary vegetable production, Rafflesia 
 Arnoldi — a plant said to be impossible to cultivate — is represented 
 by a wax model, presented by the Royal Horticultural Society of 
 London. The Rafflesia Arnoldi is the largest flower in existence, 
 is destitute of true stem or stalk and leaves, and in its natural 
 state weighs from 12 to 15 pounds, while it is capable of holding 
 twelve pints of water. It was discovered by a Dr. Arnold in the 
 interior of Sumatra. 
 
 In another glazed case is a specimen of the balsam bog plant 
 {Azorella ccespitusa), from the Falkland Islands, forming huge, 
 hard, and hemispherical hillocks, often 2 to 4 feet in height, 
 and which, in some respects, at first sight is not unlike the sheep 
 plants of the mountains of New Zesi\a,nd {Baoulia mammilaris a,nd. 
 R. eximia), called so from their compact large tufts, resembling 
 that animal when seen at a short distance. The Raoulia, which, 
 is also shown in the museum, is, like the former, a huge con- 
 glomerate mass of diminutive flowers, but it belongs to the com- 
 posite order, while the azorella is of the Umbelliferce. The 
 contents of Museum No. 2 comprise the products of the palm, 
 grass, lily, mushroom, and sea-weed families. 
 
79 
 
 Museum No. 3 contains a large collection of timber, the woods 
 of Europe, British India, Natal, Cape of Good Hope, British 
 Guiana, Trinidad, Canada, Queensland, New South Wales, Vic- 
 toria, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 
 
 An afternoon at Oxford was well spent in the Botanic Garden, 
 which is situated on the banks of the Cherwell. The garden is 
 only a few acres in extent, but contains some wonderfully fine 
 specimens of rare and beautiful trees, besides which it is famous 
 in the annals of botany and horticulture as being the oldest of 
 the British Botanic Gardens (founded in 1632), and the place 
 where several eminent botanists studied and brought to light 
 many interesting facts connected with science. Jacob Bobart 
 was the first director, Tradescant succeeded him, and, later, 
 Sherard formed the medicinal garden and herbarium. Drs. Sib- 
 thorp and Daubeny were also professors of botany here. John 
 Evelyn was a constant visitor between the years 1654 and 1675, 
 for the purpose of attending lectures in the School of Medicine, 
 and spent most of his time in the Physic Garden, which is still 
 in existence. Baxter, 78 years ago, planted the large Sophora 
 Japonica, or " pagoda tree," near the arch gateway, opposite the 
 Magdalen College, and this tree measured lift. 3in., circumference 
 of stem, 5 feet from the ground. There are some noble examples 
 of ash. Fraxinus excelsior ("common European ash"), F. 
 puheseens (" American red ash "), and F. Ornus (" manna ash "), 
 the latter 45 feet high and 6 feet round. A copper beech 
 measured lift. 6in. in girth, and another variety of Fagus 
 sylvatica, called F. asplenifolia, was also a magnificent tree. 
 Pyrus aria (" the white beam tree "), P. sorbus or " service tree," 
 and P. intermedia, 35 to 40 feet high, was, at the time of my 
 visit, a perfect picture, its branches bending to the grass with the 
 weight of scarlet fruit. Among other interesting fine specimens 
 must be mentioned Corylus colurna (" Constantinople frizzled 
 hazel or filbert"), 30 feet high and 5ft. 7in. in girth, Prunus 
 cocomilia ("the Calabrian prune"), which yields a bark con- 
 sidered a specific for fevers in Calabria, and the flowers of which 
 have a perfume resembling that of the heliotrope. On the banks 
 of the Cherwell some of the trees are of huge proportions. 
 Several Populus alba ("white or silver poplar") averaged 
 14ft. Sin. in, circumference 5 feet from the base ; Populus 
 fustigiata, or "upright poplar," 11 feet ; Planer a aguatica (the 
 "planer tree" of Southern United States) measured 12ft. lin. in 
 circumference. Many elms, too, near Christchurch meadows are 
 of enormous size ; but in the Magdalen Grove, at the back of the 
 College, are two elms, one 26ft. Sin. in girth, and was 125 to 
 130 feet high ; the other I found to be 21ft. 6in., and was quite 
 as tall. 
 
80 
 
 A great treat was a day spent at Chatsworth, seat of the Duke 
 of Devoushire, one of the oldest and most celebrated gardens in 
 England; in fact, it is a private botanic garden. It was here that 
 Amherstia nobilis from the Burmese Empire, and one of the most 
 gorgeous flowering trees in existence, was first brought under 
 cultivation ; indeed, a conservatory which cost more than £1,000 
 was specially huilt for this plant alone. Three hundred years 
 ago gardening was known at Chatsworth, and it was interesting 
 to observe the various styles of the art, which are still preserved 
 and kept up from the stiff formal Oriental, Italian, and Dutch to 
 the present or so-called modern or natural landscape system. 
 To attempt a description of the many beauties to be met with in 
 the outer grounds of Chatsworth — the lovely lakes, lawns, charming 
 endless vistas, glades, and dells, huge artificial rockeries so skil- 
 fully arranged as to deceive even an expert as to whether they 
 were not natural formations — would occupy more time than could 
 be given to them just now. I will therefore briefly refer to the 
 contents of the glass structures, which cover some acres of ground. 
 The Victoria Eegia house contains, besides the great water lily 
 itself, which is grown in a tank 36 feet in diameter, numerous 
 choice aquatic plants, amongst which is a fine plant of Euryale 
 ferox, of the East Indies, which before the Eoyal water-lily was 
 the noblest water plant known. The Nymphceas are largely 
 grown, and amongst them were Nym'phcea gigantea and N. 
 ccerulea, the blue water lilies ; N. Devoniensis, with brilliant 
 crimson flowers, the sweetly-scented N. Daubenyana, and the 
 sacred lotus lily or rose of the Nile (Nelumbium speciosumi), with 
 leaves standing up parasol-like above the large rosy-pink flowers. 
 The are many orchid houses, and several are devoted to kinds 
 requiring special treatment. One of these houses contains a 
 magnificent collection of cattleyas, principally Brazilian — some of 
 them with flowers 7 inches across, and amongst other orchids, 
 hanging in baskets from the roof, were some rare odontoglossuras, 
 phalaenopsis or moth orchids, and oncidiums, all American, 
 Another conservatory was filled with special Brazilian, Mexican, 
 and British Columbian species requiring cool treatment — a matter 
 which only within the past few years has occupied the serious 
 attention of orchid cultivators, it having been discovered that many 
 tropical species thrive better by more free circulation of air. 
 
 AdracEena and croton house was crowded almost to excess with 
 the most beautiful kinds of the variegated forms of these plants, 
 striped or blotched with every imaginable colour, and they were 
 the more interesting to me as I myself was the discoverer of some 
 of them many years ago during a cruise of H.M.S. Challenger. 
 
 There is also a house of Cape heaths, one of camellias, of 
 Indian azaleas, and an orangery, besides grape houses, &c. 
 
81 
 
 But the large conservatory has long been considered one of the 
 chief attractions of Chatsworth ; in fact, before the erection of 
 the great palm house at Kew it ranked foremost in the world as 
 a plant house, and even now is without a rival in many respects. 
 It contains tropical rarities which in point of cultivation and 
 size are not met with elsewhere. The abundant space which the 
 lofty and capacious house aflFords admits of the vegetation it 
 contains growing as luxuriantly as in the tropics, and |,well 
 might it be said that one can readily imagine one's self in the nlidst 
 of a rich tropical jungle or forest. 
 
 G-rowing not in plots or tubs, but in a deep, rich well-drained 
 soil, magestic cocoa-nut, date, ceroxylon, kentia, sabal, talipot, and 
 other palms, tower up to almost their natural heights — some of 
 them the result of 50 years' growth — and overshadow with their 
 weighty ample foliage their less pretentious but powerful 
 neighbours, tree ferns, panax, aralia, cordyline, zamias, and 
 cycas. The great bananas (Musa superba and M. Ensete), of 
 Abyssinia, vie, in their magnificent groups of broad massive 
 leafage, with their allies the strelitzias of Africa, and singular 
 urana or traveller's tree of Madagascar, whilst bread fruit, jack 
 fruit, anona or " sweet sop," avocado pear, spondias or " vi apple," 
 mangoes, mangosteen (king of fruits), diospyros or " persimmon," 
 liche, longan, papaw apple, durian, Bengal quince, jujube, and a 
 host of other fruit trees of the temperate and torrid zones are in 
 their element, and, struggling for space amidst pandanus, 
 mangroves, banyan, cinnamon, and nutmeg trees, ixoras, jonesias, 
 browneas, and scores of others remarkable either for the 
 brilliancy, beauty, or singularity of their flowers, or the grandeur 
 of their foliage. An exuberant undergrowth of many kinds of 
 dwarf ferns — arum, begonia, piper, tradescantia, maranta, bill- 
 bergia, caladium, aod like vegetation fills every available space, 
 and up the pillars that support the vast roof, as also the stems of 
 the taller trees, gay and brilliant flowering climbers find their way 
 to the glass and partly obscure it. Glorious effects are produced 
 in this large conservatory by massing a number of specimens of 
 any particularly strong kind of plant together — Musa coccinea, 
 for instance, from Cochin China, five or six in a group, with pale- 
 green whorls of broad leafage, and dazzling scarlet bracts, loot a 
 charm to a jungle of reeds, bamboos, and alpinias. And such 
 delicious tints of colour as are produced by a combination of the 
 well-known cissus discolor, yellow allamandas, numerous 
 dipladenias, thunbergias, clematis, and afistolochias, festooning 
 drooping boughs, binding them together or wrestling with noble 
 philodendrous pothos and monsteria, can be better imagined than 
 described. 
 
 The Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, which is under the 
 directorship of Professor Balfour, is 27^ acres in extent, but 
 
 826. F 
 
82 
 
 there is also an arboretum of 60 acres, in -which trees and the 
 larger shrubs are classified in groups arranged on the grass. Both 
 garden and arboretum contain magnificent collections of plants, 
 and afibrd every facility for the study of botany. The Botanical 
 Museum in the upper part of the garden is much patronized by 
 the public. The specimens therein are arranged on glass-coTered 
 tables and in cases, some for carpological or fruit specimens, 
 grouped according to their relationship. One case contained the 
 plants of Scripture, another fossil plants, and many other miscel- 
 laneous articles and products of the vegetable world. Structural, 
 morphological, and physiological botany are taught and simplified 
 or made easy by models in wax, and by living or preserved 
 plants. One of the most interesting and useful collections in this 
 museum to the student of botany is the papier-mache models of 
 flowers, in some instances nine or ten times their natural size, 
 which illustrate the various orders of plants. 
 
 A series of the principal genera of each order, beginning with 
 the Ranunculacece, or order of the butter-cups or ranunculi, 
 clematis, &c., and ending with the Gramineae or grass family, are 
 so neatly and beautifully made as to be capable of being taken to 
 pieces, as one would dissect the flowers themselves, to ascertain 
 their parts and relationship. The fungi or mushroom order, is also 
 well illustrated by models as well as by specimens preserved in 
 alcohol, whilst the AlgcB, or sea weeds, and lower forms still of 
 vegetable life, are represented. 
 
 The garden is greatly to be admired for the excellent manner 
 in which it is arranged, not only as a scientific repository but for 
 its pretty little lawns, vistas, and background of foliage, the 
 winding pathways through shrubberies, its old interesting trees, 
 and for the splendid outlook over Edinburgh from the arboretum 
 in front of Inverleith House (known as the Old Mansion House), 
 which is the residence of the director. 
 
 The class ground within the garden proper contains only herba- 
 ceous plants and annuals (similar to the one at Kew), which are 
 arranged in botanical sequence in long narrow beds, according to 
 Hooker and Bentham's Genera Plantarum, for the information of 
 students. The rock garden is not an artistic design, being simply 
 a terraced slope, ascended by steps, and containing several thousand 
 square or triangular compartments for alpine and dwarf herbaceous 
 plants, besides small shrubs, amongst which several New Zealand 
 species were flourishing ; nevertheless it demonstrated how such 
 plants, with attention and a knowledge of their habits, may be cul- 
 tivated with perfect success. A semicircular pond in the centre of 
 the ground was filled with aquatic weeds and the more showy water- 
 lilies. The pine tribe scattered over the garden and arboretum 
 numbers some 300 species. No fewer than 70 distinct forms of 
 the English holly {Ilex aquifolium), variegated and green, are 
 
83 
 
 grouped in a large bed, and at the time of my visit were laden 
 with berries — mostly scarlet, but many of them golden yellow. 
 
 The glass-houses teem with a rich and varied tropical and semi- 
 tropical vegetation, but it would of course be a work of superero- 
 gation to recount the names of the thousands of species contained 
 in this excellent institution. 
 
 The Dublin Botanic Grardens — or, as they are called, the Royal 
 Botanic Gardens— are situated in the suburb of Glasnevin, on the 
 Tolka River, about 3 miles north of the metropolis. The general 
 contour of the gard.ens being of an undulating character, has 
 enabled the designers of it to make much of little more than 
 40 acres, and the work has been very artistically planned. 
 
 As the visitor strolls along the sweeping walks or over the 
 well-kept turfy expanses, broken by clumps of green and variegated 
 hollies, maples, rhododendrons, laurels, and numerous individuals 
 of British and foreign timber trees, the scenery is everywhere 
 varied, interesting, and delightful. The ever-flowing Tolka 
 stream, with its emerald-green banks studded with silvery-leaved 
 willows (Salix venenata and S. regalis) and drooping reeds and 
 bamboos, is a factor in the landscape which adds a great charm to 
 the surroundings. 
 
 Dotted about the lawns are some glorious examples of golden- 
 leaved yew trees .and copper-coloured beeches. These light up 
 the dark background of firs and other trees outside the grounds. 
 Trees with coloured foliage well blended with the greenery of a 
 landscape often afford more pleasiag effects than the most fantastic 
 beds or borders of flowers that the gardener can design. 
 
 A prominent feature is the rock garden, which is well stocked 
 with luxuriantly growing alpine vegetation, ferns in suitable 
 positions, rare wild flowers from the highlands of Europe, bog 
 plants in great variety growing in peat beds at the base of rocky 
 recesses where moisture is obtainable. 
 
 This rockery is so artistically made that in many places it 
 creates the impression that the native rock has cropped up through 
 the turf in the natural way. Orchids and pitcher plants are 
 largely grown in houses specially provided for them, and the 
 collections of these embrace nearly all of the best kinds known in 
 cultivation. But to any person taking an interest in quaint forms 
 and the anomalous development of plant life, so varied and 
 extraordinary, there is in the collection of North American 
 sarracenias alone quite a study. They number about ten species 
 and many hybrid varieties. The plant is called " side-saddle flower," 
 or "trumpet leaf." The flowers themselves are of no great beauty, 
 but the highly-coloured pitcher-like blades — often mistaken for 
 
 flowers are in reality the leaves in a distorted condition. The 
 
 real pitcher plants are the nepenthes, of which the giant species 
 (N. Rajah), found a few years ago at Kina Balu, a mountain in 
 
 F 2 
 
84 
 
 Borneo, is tlie finest yet discovered. Mr. Burbidge informs us 
 tliat he found the plant in large clumps, having stems 5 or 6 feet 
 in height with very broad massive leaves and pitchers or urns 
 capable of holding two or three pints of water. Besides this 
 species there are some -25 or 30 others, of which Mastersiana, a 
 hybrid variety, and Rafflesiana, from Singapore, are the hand- 
 somest. The palm house contains 90 species of well-grown palms, 
 some of which tower up to the roof, which is more than 60 feet 
 high. There too are perhaps the finest specimens in cultivation 
 in Britain of those noble trees — the Browneas grandiceps and 
 coccinea from Venezuela and New Granada. The former was 
 furnished with between 30 and 40 gorgeous flower heads of bright 
 clear rosy pink colour, and borne in dense clusters at the 
 extremities of the short young shoots from the main stem, 
 contrasted charmingly with the dark pinnate leaves of 3 feet in 
 length. The Brownea coccinea, which flowers somewhat later, 
 and of which I also saw specimens at Kew and at Chatsworth, 
 produces dazzling vermilion tassels of bloom from out of the bark 
 of the stem and branches, and which, before expansion, resembles 
 small marbles, whilst the leaves in a young state are of a rich bronzy 
 hue. Two other beautiful plants, rare in cultivation, attracted my 
 attention — Jonesia asoca. {Saraca) and Butea frondosa — which 
 like the browneas first alluded to, the Poinciana regia or gold 
 moha tree, the Amherstia, and many other of the more gorgeous 
 flowering trees and shrubs of the tropics, belong to the order 
 Leguminosw or pod-bearing tribe. A curvilinear range of glass, 
 called the New Holland house, is filled with our eucalypts, 
 numbering some 70 or 80 species, numerous acacias, epacrids, the 
 araucarias, dammaras, callitris, and a host of Australian plants 
 too numerous to mention. The vegetation of New Zealand is 
 fairly represented in the open borders. The Phormium tenax or 
 ." New Zealand flax," veronicas, pittosporums, &c., do well with 
 little shelter. I may say that, as a picturesque botanical garden, 
 that of Glasnevin has few rivals, and the visitor to Ireland who 
 omits seeing it will have missed a treat which few other places 
 can ofier all the year round. 
 
 Having briefly described these various scientific institutions, it 
 may be asked what British conservatories and operations connected 
 therewith have to do with matters of the kind here, seeing that 
 they are applied in most instances under very distinct climatic 
 conditions. The conservatory system, so called, is almost as 
 necessary here as in Britain, owing to the variable nature of our 
 climate ; and, therefore, any garden worthy of the name should 
 have the material aid of shelter and warmth thereby afibrded. 
 
 Visitors from the Antipodes are usually amazed at the plants 
 to be seen luxuriating in the open air in these southern climes, 
 and which in some continental and British gardens it is 
 
85 
 
 absolutely necessary to grow in pots or tubs under glass. It -would 
 be well in my opinion for our young men, anxious as many of 
 them are to keep abreast with the onward march of horticulture, 
 to be actively in touch with the most approved methods of culti- 
 vation adopted by experienced growers at home, as well as in the 
 colonies. Thus they would learn how to increase and successfully 
 grow valued plants, many, perhaps, of economic importance, from 
 warmer or colder latitudes for test purposes or acclimatisation 
 here. I would add, in conclusion, that intelligent application to 
 the study of so useful and pleasing a profession as that of horti- 
 culture would most surely merit and should insure success ; and 
 if, as is so truly necessary, forethought and observation be prac- 
 tised, afterthought, with all its possible miseries, would be 
 avoided. Our climate and soil, generally speaking, being favor- 
 able for the cultivation of almost anything, the opportunities 
 afforded by tuition in this and other institutions of the kind, also 
 through our increasingly liberal land laws, should enable our 
 young men to become not only owners of flourishing gardens, but 
 horticulturists in the truest sense, and second to none in the world. 
 
86 
 
 yiCTORIAN LAND IN ITS RELATION TO 
 CULTURAL EFFORT. 
 
 By Ambrose C. Neatb. 
 
 {Sth September, 1893.) 
 
 It is not, I would assume, too much to expect in a large island- 
 continent such as Australia that its rapidly increasing population 
 will aim of necessity to secure its sustenance food, clothing, 
 shelter, &c., from or by means of the soil to a far greater extent 
 than is at present attempted. That the culture of the soil will 
 be extended in a remarkable manner needs no forecast, seeing — 
 as is apparent to all observers — the present depression is forcing 
 our sons to think of the country, with the view of fitting an^ 
 settling themselves upon it, as intelligent workers who intend to 
 test the powers which God has given them of transforming many 
 a wilderness into a garden. 
 
 In time to come people will look back with gratitude to the 
 men, both in and out of our Parliaments, who by their wisdom in 
 schemes for village settlements, labour colonies, &c., induced 
 a large part of our population to become rural in its habits, inde- 
 pendent in spirit, and more truly healthful in both body and 
 mind. 
 
 It may be asked by a young farming man, say, in one of the 
 home counties, " Is Victoria capable of yielding the varied pro- 
 ducts needful for man and beast ? " From some of us who know 
 something of facts not entertained by thoughtless or mere casual 
 observers, the answer would be given, " Undoubtedly ; although 
 it is but fair to add that in comparison with America, having its 
 soil almost inexhaustibly rich, by reason of the enormous accu- 
 mulation of leaf mould throughout its forest areas, our own land 
 is seen to some extent at a disadvantage." I have not visited 
 very much of the country " from the Murray to the sea," so might 
 very fittingly ask to sit at the feet of some of our pioneers, who 
 know so much of its worth — far more than I can hope to arrive 
 at. I would, however, remark that the success attained in the 
 western and other districts in the yield of root crops, grains, 
 fruits, &c., prove that it can be almost indefinitely extended. 
 
87 
 
 The accompanying table may offer a suggestive idea or so to a 
 lung intending: culturist : — 
 
 Quality. 
 
 1. — Sandy loam, 
 clay base 
 
 -Red friable and 
 dark loams, 
 clay base 
 
 -Heavy loam, 
 
 day base, 
 
 black, heavy, 
 
 and strong 
 sous 
 
 -Limestone and 
 marl, some- 
 times clay base 
 
 £. — Yellow clay and 
 ■heavy reten- 
 tive soils gene- 
 rally 
 
 -6. — Sandy and very 
 light soils, 
 wanting in 
 substance 
 
 Suited for — 
 
 Nursery, garden 
 
 flowers, lawns, vege- 
 tables, fruit trees 
 
 All garden produce, 
 fruit trees, farm 
 crops, &c. 
 
 Fruit trees, vege- 
 tables i(much stir- 
 ring for root crops) 
 
 Vines, fruit trees (if 
 clay below), brassica 
 family, beans, Sao. 
 
 When improved 
 
 fruit trees, as pears, 
 apples, corn, &o. 
 
 Vegetables and quick- 
 growing succulent 
 crops generally 
 
 Improved by — 
 
 Bone-dust,lime, phos- 
 phates, river-bank 
 soil, vegetable decay 
 
 As in No. 1, except 
 river-bank soil 
 
 Sand, lime, bone-du»t, 
 vegetable decay 
 
 Same as for No. 1, 
 except bone-dust 
 and lime 
 
 Lime, sand, wood ash, 
 vegetable decay 
 
 Lime, bone - dust, 
 heavy loam and clay, 
 also river-bank and 
 other good soils 
 
 Other remarks. 
 
 As seen on the south 
 side of River Yarra. 
 
 Such are found in 
 Gippsland, Ac, also 
 Flemington, Heidel- 
 berg, and Goulburn 
 Valley. 
 
 As at Box Hill, Don- 
 caster, Barrabool 
 Hills, and also freely 
 north side of Yarra. 
 
 As at Geelong, 
 Western Port, Ac, 
 western district near 
 coast. 
 
 Special need of drain- 
 age, exposure to sun, 
 &c. 
 
 As near sea coasts and 
 much on south side 
 of River Yarra. 
 
 Note. — All (1 to 6) greatly improved by stable or farm-yard manure. 
 
 The task of manuring sandy land with clay, and vice versa, is 
 one which would well repay a grower, for, in the first case, the 
 free working which the sand insures and the added strength 
 given by the clay to the poor baseless sand should prove the 
 value of intelligent thought in this respect. Such is frequently 
 done in Britain, and should be arranged here more generally than 
 now. Mr. G-uiLfoyle has very greatly improved some intractable 
 and almost unworkable land by the use of sand freely applied in 
 parts of the Melbourne Botanic Gravdens. Moreover, I feel assured 
 that besides the changeful effect on the soil the sand freely used 
 as a dressing re vines afEected with Phylloxera vastatrix would 
 be likely to prof e helpful, seeing that the disease is stated not to 
 attack vines growing on sandy land. It would be interesting if 
 this statement could be confirmed by tests made at various 
 centres. 
 
 The trenching in of clay to poor Caulfield sand, as suggested 
 by the writer to a friend who was about, to make a garden, was 
 adopted with good results in growth as affecting apple, pear, and 
 ■other fruit trees. In this connexion, I wouldpoint to the pronounced 
 
88 
 
 success whicli has attended the tropical groupings originated and 
 completed by Mr. Guilfoyle near the large conservatory in the 
 Botanic Gardens, where he took particular care to introduce an 
 artificial clay base, thus : — 
 
 Example op Soil with Clat Base. 
 
 A Clay. B Loam. 
 
 The true culturist must act on the same principle as the wise 
 man does, who, being the owner of a horse, feeds him well to 
 insure good and cheerful service. The soil will respond like a 
 living creature to a little generosity on the part of its owner in 
 the way of manure, restoring those constituents taken off or 
 exhausted by continual cropping. There are men who try a little 
 " economy" by starving the land, leaving some other people a 
 cruel inheritance later on, discreditable to the first and ruinous to 
 the second. 
 
 The advantage of securing classified locations for the various 
 plants to succeed best in is of course a well-understood matter 
 with the practised grower, who would be almost sure to act some- 
 what as shown in the accompanying table : — 
 
 Fosition. 
 
 1.— Undulating land . . 
 
 2.— Hill-sides, north and 
 west aspects princi- 
 pally 
 
 3.— Rich valleys and semi- 
 flat oountiy 
 
 Suitability. 
 
 Preferable for gardens generally — 
 flowers, fruits, vegetables, farm 
 crops, &c. 
 
 Best adapted for vines, fruits, as 
 apricots, peach, plum, orange, 
 lemon, and strawberry 
 
 Well adapted for farm and garden 
 produce, root crops, red and black 
 currant, gooseberry, &c. 
 
 Added Note. 
 
 Interchangeable tO' 
 some extent, ac- 
 cording to depth of 
 soil, drainage, water- 
 supply, &o. 
 
 The astonishing success which has followed the well-directed 
 efforts of the Messrs. Chaffey at Mildura, and those of the 
 pioneers of the Goulburn Valley districts, goes to prove the value 
 of rightly-conceived plans, combined with irrigation, as affecting 
 
89 
 
 the fruit industry, and is a testimony to the sturdiness, both of 
 the culturists and the soil they have so skilfully wrested from 
 obscurity. 
 
 They have done much with water in the way of reducing soils, 
 whose latent strength would never have been available in any 
 other way, to a state wherein the tender rootlets of both tree and 
 herb could secure their proper sustenance, but is not a word of 
 caution needful? To some I feel sure there is danger not in 
 using too little but too much water. Were fruit trees lovers of 
 much moisture, as are willows, then the case would be very 
 different. 
 
 It needs but little in the way of argument after all that 
 practical men have written and done to make plain the need in 
 some form or other, when a young man takes upon himself to aim 
 at becoming a successful tiUer of the soil. In some positions he 
 may dispense with artificial drainage, but not necessarily so 
 because his block is on a hill-side ; it may be the more necessary 
 on that account. There are of course many ways of carrying ofE 
 the soakage : — (1) The open trench ; (2) the same half-filled with 
 stones topped by soil ; (3) the trench and drain pipe styles 
 combined thus : — 
 
 Example of Appeovbd Drain. 
 
 n Soil 
 
 REPIACED 
 
 LlTT£R 
 
 B Stones 
 Pjpe 
 
 ■Well rammed. 
 
 About 2 J inches 
 
 in size. 
 Agricultural pipe 
 
 resting on the 
 
 clay. 
 
 This is without doubt the best and most reliable of drains. 
 
 Some people who are but little suited to bring even a small area 
 into a state of culture err by taking— say, for them— the enormous 
 quantity of 200 or more acres (much of it very poor and sour) 
 in various parts of the colony. They " ring " and burn the trees, 
 and distress all lovers of the beautiful by the mischief effected, 
 and do not in anv way compensate for it by actual culture or 
 other real improvement. And they are at last worn out and 
 dispirited, poverty- struck and old, with a feeling that their way 
 at least of rural living did not yield those pleasures about which 
 poets have sung and artists delighted to portray. It behoves 
 
90 
 
 every one living by the soil to do as is the practice with the onion- 
 growers of the Portarlington district, cultivate every available 
 inch of the block, and not waste time — " the warp of life " — in 
 holding too much land or becoming in any other way partners in 
 that well-known but scarcely successful firm of Messrs. Grasp- 
 all and Lose-all. 
 
 Surely 40 acres of good land, in a well-watered position, and 
 systematically used, should be a fair thing for a good man to 
 manage, defined by a recent correspondent of one of our Victorian 
 newspapers as laid out thus : — 10 acres, homestead, orchard, 
 poultry, cow-yard, &c. ; 10 acres to grow field peas, potatoes, &c., 
 as food for pigs, poultry, cattle, &c.;' 20 acres set apart for grazing 
 of cows and horses. 
 
 There are of course very many labour-saving tools, which in 
 the hands of our "coming laen" will help them materially to 
 reduce their holdings to a state of tillage. Those in the 
 agricultural section are very numerous and mostly valuable, but 
 it seems to me for small selections the " Planet Junior " hand- 
 plough, drill, hoe, rake, and seeding apparatus combined gives a 
 hard-working fellow, whose soil is friable, a means of conquering 
 his work in very much less time than usual. In the vegetable 
 and fruit garden of the Government House the gardener (Mr. 
 J. D. Allen) finds it most serviceable. There is another 
 instrument of splendid value for a good variety of work in a 
 garden, farm, or orchard of the style of a pick (say, 6 lbs. in 
 weight), made to order of my late and very much respected father. 
 It is shaped thus : — 
 
 The Mattock. 
 
 I well remember one of his men exclaiming when at work on 
 the Barrabool Hills— " Bedad, here is a clod which has not been 
 turned up since Adam was a boy," but a mattock such as this 
 
91 
 
 would have made short work of the "clod" and stiff soil 
 generally if it had at that time been available. For trenching, 
 levelling, and turning up obstinate soil to the action of the sun 
 there is nothing like it. 
 
 The future grower in these southern lands must, if he would 
 be a successful one, pay a great deal of attention to the details of 
 his work. Life in the country is scarcely a sufficient reason for 
 either slovenliness in dress or duty. Of course there will not be 
 the prim habit of the shopman, but a free and easy manner will no 
 doubt assert itself, and his dress will be in accord with his sur- 
 roundings. There are several things he should know apart from 
 hia directly horticultural training. Some young men are, of course, 
 very observant, and probably have their parents and former school 
 tutors to thank for the free use they make of their note-books. I 
 would assume that a young man, to be able to get his living from 
 the soil, requires a full equipment of knowledge of all that can be 
 learned, with the time at his disposal, of the three branches, viz., 
 botany, gardening, and farming, and I am given to understand by 
 Mr. Neilson that some of the students here are candidates also for 
 a term at Dookie (the Government Farm). This principle is evi- 
 dently sound, and it will be well if the students can in every 
 instance become apt learners in the ways named. Boys and young 
 men need a quiver full of arrows to hit the mark, as well in draw- 
 ing, carpentering, and general building, also to practise special 
 lines of culture, all to afford auxiliary force, and give him a sure 
 living, and a balance besides to carry forward for a rainy day. 
 
 The earnest student will be likely to spend his evenings in 
 studying the books and other cultural publications with a view to 
 help himself onward ; and he will, I trust, avoid that prodig?.l 
 attention to sport which was so thoughtfully referred to by 
 Mr. J. West, of Mooroopna, at a meeting of the Chamber of 
 Eural Industries, on 3 1 st August, when he said — " However we 
 might shut our eyes to the fact, the surplus energy of the young 
 people was running in the direction of sport. ... If the 
 matter were not watched it would have a most serious effect in 
 crowding out that stability which had hitherto existed in the 
 Anglo-Saxon character." Of course we know Mr. West is right, 
 and that his word of caution is well timed. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the young land-owner, in order to 
 succeed, will have to act upon Samuel Budgett's maxim, " Push, 
 Tact, and Principle," and withal must be very much of an 
 enthusiast, who is always learning. 
 
 Let me offer a few closing thoughts regarding such an one:— 
 (a) How could he better spend his holidays than to take a 
 trip to Mildura or the G-oulburn Valley fruit and 
 irrigation districts ? He could there have a chat with 
 
92 
 
 and see the labours of successful growers, and awaj 
 on other occasions to the western and other interesting 
 lands under culture. 
 (I)) He will not be likely to place dependence on only one or 
 two leading items of produce, " not have all his apples 
 in one basket." He will have, and needs to have, a 
 variety, and, besides, will not fail to supplement his 
 earnings by stock, the fowl-yard, &c. 
 
 (c) No doubt he will be on the alert re industrial plants, 
 
 especially after a visit to the Economic Museum, 
 Botanic Gardens ; will grow them experimentally at 
 first, but will be quite sure of his market, asking " Can 
 I find a buyer in the colony or out of it ? " If an affir- 
 mative answer comes to hand these plants will, no 
 doubt, in a supplementary way yield him much and 
 profitable satisfaction. 
 
 (d) How about his settling in life ? (You may well ask if 
 
 this properly belongs to my subject.) Let him he 
 patient ; his selection will teach hira that. Will she 
 help him? Perhaps so, and after all, prove more 
 enthusiastic than himself; and thus cause the ex- 
 clamation of many years ago by a Highton labourer, 
 about the knowing rooster's opinion of his mistress, 
 to come true in her case also : — 
 
 " He crowed aloud, did Chanticleer, 
 The missus, she is master here ! " 
 
 Women's rights, you observe, may even be practised in a rural 
 kind of way and place, but they cannot be more effectually exerted 
 than by the mother bringing up her children (of course with the 
 primary help of the father) to love a country life with its usually 
 pleasing associations. 
 
 Note. — The address was accompanied by several drawings, among 
 which were — 
 
 (1) A charcoal kiln, internal form. 
 
 (2) A charcoal kiln, external form. 
 
 (3) The Ciajiherry XOxT/coccus palustris). 
 
 (4) The Whortleberry {Vaccinium myrtillus). 
 
 These were intended to illustrate some auxiliary sources of revenue. 
 
93 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL ASPECT OP BEE- 
 KEEPING. 
 
 By L. T. Chambers, Bee-keepeks' Supply Association. 
 
 {Sth December, 1893.) 
 
 Bee-keeping, like many other pursuits, may be limited to a 
 small area, as is usually the case in amateur work, or extended to a 
 large area, partaking of the nature of an adjunct to other pursuits, 
 or becoming the sole occupation or employment of an individual 
 as a means of obtaining a living. In a recent lecture given by 
 Mr. EUery before this association, we had a concise study of the 
 economy of the beehive, and we need not now do more than 
 glance over the points then brought under your notice. 
 
 Our subject to-day deals with the concrete value of bee-keeping. 
 The money there is in it. The possibilities of turning knowledge 
 and labour into hard cash. This, sir, is the question that is 
 exercising our minds very much at the present time. And it is 
 my pleasure at this opportunity to supply a pointer in the direction 
 of one source of profit to the individual and the State. I desire 
 to speak with all due caution only of facts which are fully known 
 and proved, and which, as a bee-keeper for ten years past, I am 
 thoroughly conversant with. 
 
 There are three points to be considered in our subject to-day, 
 and these three points really resolve into two. They are these — 
 The source of supply, that is, the prospective crop to be gathered ; 
 the workers, that is, the bees ; and the superintending power, that 
 is, the man. Given assurance of the prospective crop, the develop- 
 ment and proper management of the bees lies within the power 
 and direction of the prime factor, the man. 
 
 Good superintendence presupposes good workmen and good 
 methods. Still, I desire to dwell upon this point awhile, to show . 
 how much depends upon careful selection, even in the matter of 
 breeding a bee. We find exactly the same conditions present and 
 under control as in the case of sheep, cattle, trees, or vegetables. 
 To suppose that " a bee is a bee," and therefore all bees are of 
 equal value as workers, would be quite as great a mistake as to 
 assume the same of a horse, or possibly a man. There is a 
 wonderful variation of character and ability in the apiary, as a 
 little careful investigation will soon prove. 
 
 Before, however, saying anything in the direction of the crop 
 and the possibilities of gathering it, I should like to say a word 
 or two about the man — the present or prospective bee-keeper. 
 
94 
 
 While we are on sure ground in pointing to variation in character 
 as exhibited in the bees, we are equally on sure ground in dealing 
 with variation in the character of men. 
 
 We cannot blind ourselves to the fact that the elements of 
 success or otherwise in any direction lie rather in the man than 
 in his surroundings. I say this because of a very general but 
 erroneous opinion that " bees work for nothing, and board them- 
 selves," therefore easily reached profits are available. This, sir, 
 is not so. Nature is not so prodigal in any direction. Bee- 
 keeping, with money to be got out of it, must result from applied 
 knowledge and industry. When these are united there is little 
 fear but the profits — and good profits — for labour expended are 
 to be reaped ; but let not the careless or slipshod expect much 
 from the beehive. 
 
 The first factor named — the crop — is one which claims our 
 especial and careful attention, because we at once must look at 
 comparative values, and our relation to other parts of the world 
 producing a like crop. 
 
 We begin sadly to know the relative value of wheat-growing 
 and the cost of production compared to other wheat-producing 
 countries. And so all along the line our first consideration is, 
 the relation we bear to other parts of the world which can produce 
 a like article to that we desire to produce. The question arises • 
 — Can we produce honey in quality and quantity equal or 
 superior to other parts of the world, or are we upon a lower 
 standard ? We ask this question because, if there is money in 
 bee-keeping and profit to the State — that money must be won 
 from an outside market — an aim less than this is not worth 
 striving for. 
 
 The possibilities of comparison which lie within reach must 
 for the present be confined to figures which reach us from the 
 United States, from whence we draw our inspiration of the entire 
 subject as now presented on commercial lines — the production 
 and consumption of honey as an article of food having grown 
 enormously during the past twenty years. In Langstroth Honey 
 Bee, recently revised by Dadant and Son, we find some comparative 
 figures given at page 404 : — " We have no official statistics of the 
 honey crop of the United States, but the following extract from 
 The American Bee Journal (1886) will give an idea of the 
 immensity of our honey resources, considering the comparatively 
 small area of this country now occupied by apiarists : — ' The Cali- 
 fornian Grocer says that the crop of 1886 was about 1,250,000 lbs. 
 The foreign export from San Francisco during the year was 
 approximately 8,800 cases. The shipments last year by rail were 
 360,000 lbs. from San Francisco and 910,000 lbs. from Los 
 Angelos, including both comb and extracted. We notice that 
 another Californian paper estimates the crop of 1885 at 
 
95 
 
 2,000,000 lbs., and the crop of the United States for 1885 was 
 put down at 26,000,000 lbs. We do not think these figures are 
 quite large enough, though it was an exceedingly poor crop ; but 
 former years have given still better results. Through the courtesy 
 of Mr. N. W. McLain, of the U.S. Apicultural Station, we have 
 received the following statistics from The Resources of California, 
 1881: — The honey shipped from Ventura County, California, 
 during 1880 amounted to 1,050,000 lbs. The Pacific Coast 
 Steamship Company, of San Diego, shipped 1,191,800 lbs. of 
 honey from that county in the same year. The crop of the five 
 lower counties in California that year was estimated by several 
 parties at over 3,000,000 lbs. According to a report of S. D. 
 Stone, Clferk of Merchants' Exchange, of San Francisco, the 
 actual amount of honey shipped to that city from diflferent parts 
 of California in the sixteen months ending 1st May, 1881, was 
 4,340,400 lbs., equal to 217 car loads. One hundred tons of 
 honey, in one lot, was shipped during the same year from Los 
 Angelos to Europe, on the French barque Papillon. This had 
 been all purchased from the Los Angelos apiarists;' " and on page 
 406 the revisers give their own averages of honey for a period 
 of twenty years as 50 lbs. per hive. They say that, "with proper 
 management, at least 50 lbs. of surplus honey may be obtained 
 from each colony that is wintered in good condition. This is not 
 a ' guess ' estimate, it is the average of our crops during a period 
 of over twenty years, in different localities. Such an average may 
 appear small to experienced bee-keepers, but we think it large 
 enough when we consider that we have very few linden trees 
 in our neighbourhood." It may be stated that Chas. Dadant 
 and Son have been in the honey-producing business for many 
 years, and are practical apiarists, owning and managing about 
 1,000 colonies of bees, and these, of course, under the very best 
 management. 
 
 Here, therefore, we have a clear basis of comparison, 50 lbs. 
 of honey per hive, resulting from best appliances and manage- 
 ment. Can we equal or surpass it, or do we fall short of it ? 
 And, before that question is answered, let us glance for a while at 
 our sources of supply. The present dealers in honey have an 
 idiotic method of naming prime honey as "garden honey." It 
 may be that this arose in the past as a distinguishing brand to 
 dijBEerentiate it from what was then known as " bush honey," which 
 was gathered from hollow trees and logs in a rough and uncleanly 
 manner. However, as little of such honey now reaches us, the 
 term " garden honey," to express by name a sample upon which 
 more care has been taken, need no longer be used. "We may 
 assure ourselves that the amount of honey gathered from garden 
 flowers is a very insignificant quantity, of varying flavour, and 
 not worth taking into consideration in reviewing our sources of 
 
96 
 
 supply. Briefly said, therefore, our chief source of supply is 
 from the various species of eucalyptus trees. Lacking these, the 
 supply is of small amount, unless we name white clover, which, 
 in some cool and moist localities, yields a crop of excellent 
 honey. In fact, white clover honey may be classified as the best 
 of honey — finest in flavour procurable the world over. 
 
 The various species of eucalyptus trees are all honey producers, 
 but bearing a rather intermittent supply. So far as bee-keepers 
 have investigated this matter, they have been unable to supply 
 exact data of the blossoming of the diflFerent species. A rule-of- 
 thumb way of stating the case .has been adopted in the past, 
 which gives alternate years as good and bad, so far as the honey 
 supply is concerned — that is one year giving a fair to a good 
 supply, and the following year a poor supply, or none at all. 
 This method of computation is anything but reliable ; but still 
 there is a foundation of fact in it, not discoverable in Vic- 
 toria only, but in other parts of the world as well. A good 
 season is usually followed by a poor one, while a poor one is 
 usually regarded as a guarantee for a better one to follow. This 
 may, however, not be borne out ; there are many intermediate 
 results between poor and good. So far as I know, no one has 
 been able to more than guess at the conditions which produce a 
 good supply of honey, whether past or present rainfall, or present 
 conditions of atmosphere and weather. Abundant blossoms by no 
 means guarantee abundant honey. Certain conditions of weather 
 increase or decrease the yield. A warm moist atmosphere, 
 such as is experienced prior to a thunderstorm, usually guarantees 
 a good flow of honey. Speaking in general terms, the eucalyptus 
 blooms bi-annually. The tree which blooms this year will not 
 probably bloom next year, but will during the second year develop 
 its seed pods. However, one tree may blossom this year and its 
 neighbour the next, and we frequently find that one part of a 
 tree will blossom one year and the other portion the following, 
 and at times we find the disparity separated by a few months 
 only. It will be seen that to a large extent the prospective 
 honey crop is an unknown quantity ; but yet the careful and 
 investigating bee-keeper may gather information ahead by care- 
 fully noting the forming and advancing blossom buds of the trees 
 around. And given an abundance of flowers, the probability is 
 that during their continuance of bloom the weather will be favor- 
 able to the secretion of nectar. There is still another point 
 of variation to be noted in the eucalypt. Most forest trees are 
 regular in their time of blooming, but not so the eucalyptus family. 
 The bass-wood of America, which produces the largest crop of 
 forest honey, opens its flowers at a regular month and day, and the 
 flow of honey from it ranges from three days to twenty or more, 
 so that the bee-keeper knows his preparations must be complete to 
 
97 
 
 secure that crop at a given date ; but our trees may blossom any 
 time from October till June, and are altogether irregular and 
 subject to conditions which do not appear on the surface. 
 
 This extended time of honey supply is a decided gain, and, 
 with good management, a large crop may be gathered. With a 
 large surrounding forest of honey-producing trees, keeping a 
 continuous bloom for months, the apiarist is placed in a much 
 more reliable situation than in the case of the one who knows his 
 crop is limited to a few days, with all the possibility of broken 
 and unfavorable weather. 
 
 In choosing a locality for an apiary, it is well to obtain one 
 that possesses a good variety of timber. This insures a longer 
 and more continuous supply than a position which has but little 
 variety. 
 
 The quality of the honey from the different species is very 
 various, but of that I will speak later on. 
 
 The box tribe, which is so extensively scattered throughout 
 the colony, stands at the head of our forest trees as a source of 
 supply. The red, yellow, grey, and white box trees all bear 
 abundant crops of excellent honey. The redgum, which grows on 
 water-courses, gives a heavy crop, usually every other season, but 
 at times breaking away from that rule. The various species 
 usually denominated whitegum are all likewise good producers. 
 The messmate, black butt, silver top, mountain ash, stringybark, 
 and a host of others, known by common bush names, supply 
 sources of honey — some good, some inferior. 
 
 It will be clearly seen that in this colony at least we have 
 many thousands of miles of honey-producing forest/ giving a long- 
 continued flow of honey, such as is not enjoyed by other climates 
 which are not so mild or temperate as ours. In addition to the 
 large forest trees, there are, of course, a host of smaller growth — 
 banksias, hakea, acacias, &c., and thousands of flowering shrubs 
 herbs, and grasses, many of which yield honey abundantly. 
 
 Although much of our forest timber has been ruthlessly wasted, 
 there remains many thousands of square miles yet untouched, or 
 comparatively so. There is, therefore, abundant room for 
 development in this direction. 
 
 There is no necessity in this colony, as in colder climates, to 
 make special preparations for long months of winter. In fact, in 
 most parts the bees are able to fly and gather sustenance during 
 our so-called winter months. In most parts of the States, except 
 in Southern California, it is necessary to pack away all hives 
 of bees in cellars, that they may maintain an even temperature 
 of about 40° Fahr. There they remain for five months, due 
 regard being given to their food supply ; yet, notwithstanding 
 these precautions, very many are annually lost. This is a matter 
 which gives us no concern here, entails no labour, or causes any loss. 
 
 826. ^ 
 
98 
 
 We may now return to consider and compare the figures of 
 Dadant and Son with those which are obtainable here, and see if 
 their stated yearly average of 50 lbs. per hive is or can be 
 exceeded here. I find also that Dr. Miller, an extensive apiarist, 
 of Marengo, 111., in an article written in September this year, says 
 ,of another bee-keeper, who reports an average of 75 lbs. per 
 colony — "spring count" — for eight years, "This makes some of 
 us green with envy." 
 
 " Spring count " means the total gathering to be credited to the 
 original number of hives of bees that began work in the spring, 
 before swarming. So that it will be seen that, if the increase by 
 swarming were only 50 per cent., the average of 50 lbs. per 
 colony would have only been gained. We may, therefore, take 
 these figures as being reliable, and, if anything, a full statement 
 of the case. Southern California, which nearly approaches our 
 own climate, produces by far the greatest amount of any of the 
 States. Her supply is chiefly drawn from a dwarf bush known 
 as sage-bush, of which there are several varieties. The crop is, 
 however, a very uncertain one. In 1886 California produced a 
 crop of 9,000,000 lbs., but since that year has not raised more 
 than 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 lbs. in any year. 
 
 We get a peep at Calif ornian prospects in page 129, ^^ Gleanings 
 in Bee Culture" as under: — 
 
 " Some time ago one of your honey reporters stated that the 
 crop of 1892 was not a failure in California, because they 'had 
 already received twelve car-loads of honey.' It is very evident 
 that this firm does not appreciate the honey resources of 
 California. In a good year twelve cars could be loaded within a 
 radius of ten miles of my apiary ! San Diego Co. in a good year 
 will produce 2,500,000 lbs. of honey, and not exert herself 
 beyond her strength. This is 125 car-loads of 20,000 lbs. each. 
 In 1886 the firm of Surr and Winchester bought of the crop of 
 San Diego Co. over 2,000,000 lbs. There were other buyers, 
 too, and many producers shipped direct to San Francisco. Thus 
 it will be seen that Surr and Winchester alone had of San Diego 
 Co. honey 100 car-loads of 20,000 lbs. each. In 1887 they still 
 held it, and they made money by so doing, for 1887 was a very 
 poor honey year. You mentioned it in 'Gleanings' but I think 
 you gave no name of the parties who held the honey. Yes, we 
 are waiting for a good crop, and we have been waiting for nearly 
 seven long years ! But we are in the hands of an all-wise 
 Providence, who knows much better what we ought to have than 
 we do ourselves. In the excellent season of 1883 the honey crop 
 of Hancock County, Illinois, was estimated at about 200,000 lbs., 
 which made an average of less than half a pound per acre. 
 Thirty-six thousand pounds of this was our own crop, and the 
 county did not contain one-tenth of the bees that could have 
 
99 
 
 been kept profitably on it. Yet, at tbis low rate, the crop of 
 Illinois alone, with the same percentage of bees, would have 
 been 15,000,000 lbs. We cannot form an adequate idea of the 
 enormous amount of honey which is wasted from the lack of bees 
 to harvest it." 
 
 We know by such statements as these that, although we may 
 hear of Californian crops of honey being immense, such crops only 
 come very occasionally, and our supply of honey is more regular, 
 and more to be relied upon. This fact, therefore, stands out 
 clearly. We have in this colony a source of wealth in the shape 
 of a natural crop, which yearly goes to waste through need of 
 gathering and marketing. We can get a glimpse at it by com- 
 parison. We now have a few bee-keepers of experience who 
 wholly devote themselves to the business of honey gathering, 
 and we know the probabilities and possibilities of the pursuit. 
 We know that, with good management, 100 colonies of bees will 
 collect 5 tons of honey in a season, and in some parts double that 
 amount. What of the thousands of square miles of unoccupied 
 country, where hardly a bee is to be seen ? 
 
 Some few months ago, as secretary of the Bee-keepers' Asso- 
 ciation, I issued a circular to all our bee-keepers of note, asking 
 information under the head of supply and cost of gathering. I have 
 here some 20 answers from bee-keepers owning 2,000 hives of bees, 
 and living in different part of the colony. In answer to the ques- 
 tion of yearly average gathered per hive, a considerable variation 
 exists, corresponding to the locality, but it is worthy of note that 
 those who are engaged in bee-keeping pure and simple, and who 
 have, therefore, made a choice of locality, show a very large 
 average, far exceeding the average of Dadant and Son, who 
 possess many years' more experience in manipulation and manage- 
 ment, and of those who simply make bee-keeping an adjunct, show 
 that their averages are fully up to and past the 50 lbs. average. 
 Two hundred hives of bees, with a 50 lbs. average, means 5 tons 
 of honey, with a spot value of £20 to £25 a ton. This represents 
 the working capacity of one beekeeper, any increase in honey 
 not greatly adding to the labour, so that a greater gathering 
 would add to the profit of that labour without greatly adding to 
 its cost. It would simply mean that the bee-keeper would have 
 to skip round a little more and possibly get up earlier. 
 
 What does it cost to produce a ton of honey may be only an- 
 swered by careful computation of several seasons' work; but enough 
 has been said to show that a living may be made by bee-keeping 
 embracing seven or eight months' work only, and the probabilities 
 are that a good living and something over may be obtained. 
 
 For a small outlay of capital and labour, I know of no pursuit 
 which gives so speedy a return. So far, we have reviewed 
 one-half of the subject — that of production. The other half 
 
 G 2 
 
100 
 
 needs equal attention ; with a large crop available, what are we 
 going to do with it ? To make it profitable to the whole com- 
 munity, as well as to the individual, we must exchange it for 
 foreign money, and begin to get a stream running out of the 
 colony, opening the way for a still larger output, that others may 
 engage in the production. We may have some difficulty in opening 
 up trdde — some opposition, some prejudice ; but looking at a fair 
 sample of our honey, can we have any fear about finding a market 
 for it at its value side by side with other like products of other 
 parts of the world ? 
 
 We may feel assured that we need only a well-regulated and 
 persistent efibrt to find and secure outside markets for this valu- 
 able product which we have at command. 
 
 I have spoken of variation in quality of honey. This is very 
 marked'all the world over. 
 
 Before the introduction of the movable frame hive and the 
 honey extractor little was known of this subject, as the contents 
 of a hive were allowed to remain till a given time and then 
 removed, the whole being mixed. Now, however, the bee-keeper 
 is enabled to see the various qualities of honey as they are brought 
 in, note their sources, and separate one from another. 
 
 While some honey is excellent, and needs no recommendation, 
 other is objectionable in fiavour and appearance, and as an article 
 of food has nothing to recommend it. 
 
 A colony of bees gathering honey from various sources during 
 the spring and summer will bring in very varying qualities. It 
 would be poor policy to reduce these to an average sample where 
 it is possible to grade them. 
 
 The bee-keeper may, however, classify his crops as they come 
 in, and set aside any honey from objectionable sources, so that it 
 does not contaminate the whole. 
 
 Referring to the labour entailed, and the conditions necessary 
 to success in bee-keeping, I can only say, as said at the beginning 
 of my subject, the profits lie in the man. His capital must 
 largely consist of knowledge, but such knowledge will rapidly be 
 gained where there is an enthusiasm in the subject. 
 
 While the work is not laborious, it needs constant attention, 
 and during the spring months long hours, but this is more than 
 compensated for by the ease of other times. There are many 
 men who, although physically incapacitated from the hard labour 
 of a country life, may find profitable employment in bee-keeping 
 as a source of living, or as an adjunct to something else. 
 
FIG. 1. 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
101 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PEIZE ESSAYS BY STUDENT A. E. BENNETT. 
 
 THE PLUM (Prunus Domestica) 
 
 Is a naturalized English fruit, but its original country is supposed 
 to be Asia Minor. 
 
 The genus prunus belongs to the extensive natural order 
 Rosaceae. 
 
 The plum is a deciduous tree, attaining the height of 15 or 
 20 feet, and forming a moderately spreading head. 
 
 Plums are amongst the hardiest of all stone fruits, and the crop 
 is one of the most remunerative if the season be at all favorable. 
 
 Uses. 
 
 The fruit is used for dessert, cooking, drying, tinning, and 
 bottling purposes. 
 
 A wine is also made occasionally from plums. 
 
 In some parts of Europe there is distilled from the fruit an 
 excellent spirit. The leaves of the plum are also largely used to 
 adulturate tea. 
 
 Its wood is valuable for turning and in the manufacture of 
 musical instruments. 
 
 Propagation. 
 
 The best plum trees are obtained by grafting and budding on 
 seedlings or cuttings of Mussell, JuUen, Myrabolan, or Cherry 
 Plum. 
 
 A French variety of the latter is now being extensively used as 
 a stock. The plum has been worked on apricot and almond 
 roots, but this practice is invariably not successful in some soils. 
 In layering the varieties used are the Mussel and Julien, which 
 are also extensively used as stocks. 
 
 It is possible to root-graft the plum, but it is not often practised. 
 
 The two diagrams (Figs. 1 and 2) show the most successful 
 modes of treatment — seedlings raised from the Common Plum, 
 the Blue Gage, &c. 
 
 For dwarfing the seedlings of the Mirabelle are chiefly 
 employed. 
 
 Some sorts reproduce themselves nearly true from seed, such as 
 the Green Gage. 
 
102 
 
 Tlie seed of the plum maj be sown when taken from the fruit, 
 or it may be buried in sand in the autumn or early spring. 
 
 Suckers are frequently used, but should be avoided if possible 
 in consequence of sending up numerous suckers. 
 
 Plum stocks are used in some nurseries in large numbers for 
 peaches, nectarines, and apricots. 
 
 The time for budding the plum, January ; and grafting from 
 July and August — ^just before the sap begins to S.oW. 
 
 Figs. 3 and 4 show modes of working. 
 
 The varieties given in the list below strike freely from 
 cuttings : — 
 
 French Cherry Plum, Common Cherry Plum, Common Yellow 
 Cherry Plum ; Mussel and Julien do well from layers. 
 
 CULTTJEE. 
 
 In preparing the ground for the cultivation of the plum it 
 should be thoroughly trenched to a depth at least from 15 inches 
 to 18 inches. Deep ploughing is, however, the most general 
 method of preparing the ground for large orchards — say, 10 to 18 
 inches or more. The time for ploughing is between spring and 
 autumn. 
 
 The trees are generally planted from 18 to 20 feet apart. 
 
 The depth to which the young plum tree should be planted 
 should not be more than it was grown in the nursery. 
 
 The roots should be well spread out, and covered over by fine 
 soil. 
 
 The month of June is a favorable season for planting. 
 
 One-year-old trees are by some preferred, but the trees should 
 not be more than two years. 
 
 The modes of cultivating the soil are by various instruments, 
 such as the plough, disc harrows, hoe, &c. 
 
 Many growers have found common salt one of the best fertilizers 
 for the plum, as it promotes its health and general appearance ; 
 but lime, bone dust, blood manure, superphosphate, and farm-yard 
 manure are the most generally used. 
 
 Varieties of Plum used for — 
 
 J)essert, 
 
 Early Elvers Washington 
 
 Early Orleans Eeine Claude de Bavay 
 
 Reine Victoria Coe's G-olden Drop 
 
 Magnum Bonum Green Gage 
 
 Angelina Burdett Blue Superb 
 
 De Montfort Belle de Septembre 
 
 Diamond Coe's Late Red 
 
 Prince Englebert Pond's Seedling. 
 
 Kirk's 
 
^^I^'K.^^ 
 
 "<:^ 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 FIG. 4. 
 
103 
 
 Cooking. 
 Early Orleans Germain Prune 
 
 Diamond White Magnum Bouum 
 
 Belle de Septembre Green Gage 
 
 Coe's Late Eed Guthrie's Late Green. 
 
 Pond's Seedling 
 
 Marketing. 
 
 Early Rivers Green Gage 
 
 Early Orleans Magnum Bonum 
 
 De Montfort Coe's Golden Drop 
 
 Angelina Burdett Blue Superb 
 
 Diamond Belle de Septembre 
 
 Prince Englebert Coe's Late Red 
 
 Washington Pond's Seedling 
 
 Kirk's Reine Claude de Bavay. 
 Reine Victoria 
 
 Drying. 
 
 Angelina Burdett Fellemberg 
 
 De Montfort D'Agen 
 
 Prince Englebert French Prune 
 
 Coe's Golden Drop German Prune 
 
 Early Rivers Ick-worth's Impera trice 
 
 Early Orleans Washington 
 
 Kirk's Reine Victoria 
 
 Coe's Late Red Belle de Septembre 
 
 Reine Claude de Bavay Blue Superb. 
 
 The most important varieties operated upon at the college 
 are — 
 
 McLoughlin, of which 4 lbs. green produce 1 lb. dried, is of 
 excellent quality, both before and after drying. 
 
 Washington, of vrhich 4 lbs. green produce 1 lb. dry, also 
 ranks as one of first merit, both before and after drying. It does 
 not keep its colour so well when dried as some of the other 
 varieties, but makes a good dessert prune. 
 
 Of Mirabelle von Flowtow's Gelbe Friibbe Quetsche, 3|^ lbs. 
 green make 1 lb. dried. Its quality is excellent before and after 
 drying, and it is a most superior light-coloured dessert prune, 
 resembling very much Coe's Golden Drop, only it comes in about 
 six or eight weeks earlier. 
 
 Kirk's, Reine Victoria, Purple Gage, Diamond, and De Mont- 
 fort also give very good results. 
 
 The best varieties for — 
 
 Tinning > 
 Coe's Golden Drop Mirabelle von Flowtow's 
 
 Green Gage Denyer's Victoria 
 
 Yellow Magnum Bonum Ickworth's Imperatrice. 
 
104 
 
 Bottling. 
 Ick worth's Imperatrice Denyer's Victoria 
 
 Coe's Golden Drop Mirabelle von Flowtow's 
 
 Yellow Magnum Bonum Green Gage. 
 
 Soils and Aspect. 
 
 The plum will grow well in nearly every part of this colony, 
 but it only bears its finest fruit on loamy soils, say 15 to 18 inches 
 deep, resting on a clay subsoil, provided the subsoil is open and 
 properly drained. The ground should be well trenched or deeply 
 ploughed previous to planting, to keep the roots as near the surface 
 as possible. 
 
 It adapts itself to almost any aspect, but it does best in a north- 
 western one. If planted in an eastern aspect it does not do so 
 well, because if there has been a frost in the night the rising sun 
 thaws it on the leaves too quickly ; but when planted in a north- 
 west aspect the atmosphere gets warmer about it more gradually. 
 
 Pruning. 
 
 In the first year when the tree has pushed out young shoots 
 rub ofi' all but the three or four top ones, and allow them to grow 
 to form the crown or head. 
 
 If the tree has been pinched in the nursery and these three 
 or four shoots have been formed cut them back to three or four 
 buds from the base, and then when they have grown in the spring 
 rub off all shoots that it may not be found necessary to retain for 
 the future formation of the tree. In the following year it will have 
 made a considerable length of wood, which should be cut back, 
 leaving five or six buds according to the length of the stock. 
 
 In the third year after planting allow an increased growth 
 until the tree begins to fruit, which would be about the third and 
 fourth year. 
 
 A good deal of unnecessary winter pruning of young trees 
 can be avoided if a judicious system of summer pruning be 
 practised. 
 
 Mode of Bearing. 
 
 All the varieties of plums produce their fruit on the small 
 natural spurs along the stems of the bearing shoots of one, two, 
 or more years' growth. 
 
 Owing to the plum being one of the hardiest of fruit trees, open 
 standard culture is generally practised. 
 
 It requires little or no pruning after the fourth year beyond 
 that of thinning out crowded wood or taking away decayed or 
 broken branches, and this should be done during the autumn 
 months a;s soon as the leaves have fallen. The ordinary way of 
 pruning is to cut off two-thirds of last season's wood and leave 
 one-third. 
 
FIG. 5. 
 
105 
 
 Old trees that have become barren can be renovated by 
 cutting them pretty severely, and covering the -wounds with paint 
 made of red lead and oil, and giving them a good top-dressing 
 of farm-yard manure. 
 
 Fig. 5 show mode of pruning and shape. 
 
 Injurious Insects and Diseases. 
 
 KED SMDEE (tETEANTCHUS TELAREUS). 
 
 This pest is one of the principal enemies of the plum, and by 
 allowing it to remain on the tree it gives the leaves a rusty-brown 
 unhealthy appearance, and causes them to shed much earlier than 
 the natural period. 
 
 Prevention and Remedies. 
 
 Never allow stones, logs, or rubbish to collect or exist in an 
 orchard. 
 
 A very good emulsion is made from kerosene — say, 1 part to 
 25 parts of water ; use when the leaves are off the tree. 
 
 Sulphur has been found a very good preventive. 
 
 Tobacco water is a very effective remedy against this insect, 
 and may be sprayed on the tree when the fruit is offi 
 
 Soft soap and Gishurst's compound are also very good remedies. 
 
 When spraying use the spray in an upward direction, as the 
 mites are mostly on the under part of the leaves ; tliey should be 
 sprayed on with considerable force. 
 
 As many leaves as possible which are badly attacked by the 
 spider should be shaken off into a sheet and burnt. 
 
 Painting the stems of the trees with a hard brush, using slaked 
 lime and sulphur mixed for the purpose, is a prevention. 
 
 CHEERY SLUG (SELANDEIA CEEASi). 
 
 This insect is most destructive in the larva state. It resembles 
 a small dark-greenish slimy caterpillar, and infests the leaves of 
 plum and other trees, destroying them by gnawing the epidermis 
 off the upper portion, and leaving the skeleton and the lower 
 portions of the leaves untouched. 
 
 About the second week in November it is to be seen on the 
 trees. 
 
 Prevention and Remedies. 
 
 We find the best time to tackle this slug is before the fruit 
 becomes far advanced, and not when the tree is in bloom. 
 
 Dusting the tree with sand kills the slug, but it does not destroy 
 the eggs. 
 
 Hellebore powder— at the rate of 1 to 1^ oz. to the gallon of 
 water, and spraying the tree— is found the most effective remedy 
 for the prevention of this pest. 
 
106 
 
 THE PLUM CUECULIO (CONOTBACHELUS NENUPHAR, HEEBST). 
 
 The female curculio makes a small hole in the fruit with her 
 proboscis, and there deposits her eggs ; after this she gnaws a 
 crescent-shaped slit around and partially nnder the eggs. 
 
 Remedies recommended. 
 
 To 1 lb. of whale-oil soap add 4 ozs. of flour of sulphur, to 
 half-a-peck of quicklime add 4 gallons of water, and stir well 
 together ; add to this mixture, say, 4 gallons of strong tobacco 
 water. 
 
 If no rain falls for three weeks after spraying, one application 
 will be sufficient. 
 
 PUCCiNiA PRUNi (same order as rust in wheat) : or peach-plum 
 
 LEAP-EUST. 
 
 Remedy. 
 Ammoniaeal solution of carbonate of copper, as a spray — 5 ozs. 
 of copper ; first spraying after blooming or when the old wood is 
 in leaf. 
 
 podosphjEea oxtacantha : powdery MILDEW, pound both on 
 
 THE cheery and PLUM. 
 
 It belongs to the group of true moulds known as the Erysiphem. 
 
 Remedy. 
 The Bordeaux mixture and the ammoniaeal solution of carbonate 
 of copper. 
 
 MONiLiA PEUCTiGENA (as shown in 1, Fig. No. 6) : plum-eot of 
 
 THE PEUIT. 
 
 Prevention. 
 Burning all diseased fruit, which destroys the spores. 
 
 PHYLLOSTICTA DESTRUENS : SHOT-HOLE OF THE PLUM (aNOTHEE 
 NAME SEPTOEIA PRUNI.) 
 
 Both these fungi riddle the leaves with holes (as shown in 3, 
 Fig. No. 6), 
 
 Preventions and Remedies. 
 
 All fallen leaves should be destroyed. 
 
 Dressings of sulphate of iron, either applied in solution or solid 
 form. 
 
 Improved form of Bordeaux mixture : — Bluestone, \Z^ ozs.; 
 lime, 13^ ozs.; treacle, 13^ ozs.; water, 15 gallons. 
 
 EXOASCUS PRUNI : BLADDER OR POCKET PLUM. 
 
 This disease is due to a fungus, and attacks the young plums 
 just as they are beginning to swell. 2, Fig. 6, shows the diseased 
 plum. 
 
FIG. 6. 
 
107 
 
 POLTSTIGMA KUBRUM : RED SPOT ON THE PLUM LEAP. 
 
 Formula for IXL.: — Unslacked lime, 40 lbs.; sulphur, 20 lbs.,- 
 rock salt, 16 lbs.; diluted to 60 gallons of water." This is good 
 for a spray for the red spot, as shown in 4, Fig. 6. 
 
 Varieties classed as Prunes. 
 
 1. skin dark. a. free prunes — flesh separating prom 
 the stone. 
 
 D'Agen, or French Prune Lafayette. 
 
 Autumn Comp6te Mitchelson's 
 
 Early Rivers Red Magnum Bonura 
 
 Fotheringham * German Prune. 
 Fellemberg, or Italian Prune 
 
 B. CLING PRUNES — FLESH ADHERING TO THE STONE. 
 
 Prince Englebert Nouvelle de Dorelle 
 
 Pond's Seedling Ickworth's Imperatrice 
 
 Standard of England Bonnet d'Eveque. 
 
 2. SKIN PALE IMPERIAL PRUNES. A. FREE IMPERIALS. 
 
 Oullin's Golden Gage St. Martin's Quetsche. 
 
 St. Etienne 
 
 2b. cling IMPERIAL — FLESH ADHERING TO THE STONE. 
 
 Coe's Golden Drop JeiFerson 
 
 Downton Imperatrice White Magnum Bonum. 
 
 Guthrie's Late Green 
 
 Besides the list given before the following, although not 
 claimed under the heading of prunes, make very fine dried fruit, 
 as was proved during last season at the gardens : — 
 
 Denyer's Victoria De Montfort 
 
 Washington Isabella 
 
 McLoughlin Reiue Victoria 
 
 Diamond Purple Gage 
 
 Perdrigon Violet Hative Kirk's. 
 Denbigh 
 
 Ornamental Varieties. 
 
 common english sloe, or blackthorn. 
 Prunus spinosa. — This being an ornamental tree in shrubby 
 plantations, we find that the branches are more thorny than the 
 common damson, and the fruit is nearly round, quite black, but 
 covered with a thick blue bloom. In spring the tree is a perfect 
 cloud of white bloom. 
 
108 
 
 Sinensis alba. (Fl. Pl.)~Itis noted for having fine double white 
 flowers. 
 
 Double-flowering Sloe.— It is a large shrub; its height is found 
 to average from 10 to 12 feet, with quite slender shoots and leaves, 
 but it is thickly sprinkled every spring with the prettiest little 
 double white blossoms, being about as large as a sixpence, 
 resembling the Banksia rose. It is one of the greatest favourites 
 among Chinese and Japanese— those unbounded flower-loving 
 people. 
 
 Prunus Pisardi. — The beauty of this tree is that the leaves 
 are of a dark-red colour. When in flower it bears a small white 
 blossom, and also bears fruit. 
 
 Sinensis rosa (Fl. PI.) — Double-blossomed plum. 
 
 MONTHLY ESSAYS. 
 
 MAY. 
 
 The month of May is invariably admitted to be the grandest 
 time of the year by both artist, poet, and horticulturalist, on account 
 of the lovely autumn tints that meet the eye at every turn. 
 
 The brown, red, and yellow leaves of the English trees stand 
 out prominently in front of our noble native gum-tree. Visitors 
 to the gardens cannot pass the pavilion without admiring the 
 beautiful patch of Virginian creeper, the leaves of which are 
 just now turning to a dark-red tint. 
 
 On entering the nursery the visitor or student cannot help 
 stopping to admire a very flne specimen of the persimmon tree 
 (native of Japan) shedding its leaves, and leaving the golden fruit 
 to ripen later on. 
 
 This month is one of the most important for the student, as 
 planting is now being carried on, and every opportunity is afforded 
 him to see the preparation of the soil, which must be well broken 
 up by spade work. It is also most important to have the ferti- 
 lizers properly mixed with the soil before planting time. 
 
 The fertilizers most frequently used are bone dust, superphos- 
 phate, and blood manure. It should be remembered not to use too 
 much of the latter, on account of its burning nature. 
 
 Pruning keeps many of the students busy. The plum is the 
 first to be operated upon, but it does not require much pruning 
 if the tree has had a summer pruning. 
 
109 
 
 The pruning is effected by cutting out the superfluous branches 
 where they cross each other, and keeping the tree in proper shape^ 
 8fc. 
 
 A new student has to be very careful when pruning not to cut 
 ofE the fruit spurs. 
 
 Whenever a limb is pruned the surface of the wound should be- 
 neatly smoothed over, and should be covered with paint made of 
 red lead and oil. 
 
 Cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, quinces, pears, and apples 
 are pruned this month, which gives the students plenty of work 
 both for hands and mind. 
 
 It requires considerable practice to properly prune gooseberries. 
 It is a good plan to cut all stray and crossing branches out, and 
 leave the centre open. By this method the grower can gather 
 his crop in much less time. 
 
 Currants are also pruned this month. 
 
 The first appearance of the woolly aphis {Schizoneura lani- 
 gera) gives extra work. The mode we adopt to get rid of the 
 pest is to apply the following mixture : — Soft soap and tobacco 
 water mixed, rubbed on to the branches of the tree with a hard 
 brush. This gives good results. 
 
 Digging in the rose borders and hoeing up the weeds in the 
 flower garden provide occupation for some. 
 
 Picking some of the late apples and stowing them in the fruit- 
 room has to be attended to. 
 
 During this month cuttings of geranium, fuchsia, &c., are put in. 
 The cuttings are best planted in the autumn, because the sap is 
 descending and the earth is still warm ; therefore rooting com- 
 mences quickly. 
 
 In choosing a cutting a young firm wood grown in the summer 
 is the best. 
 
 The end of the cutting should be made quite smooth close under 
 a joint with a sharp knife, as a clean cut heals quickly and a 
 jagged wound slowly. 
 
 Collecting capsicums is a tedious occupation, their fumes being 
 very trying to the eyes. 
 
 Grubbing trees in the old orchard gives the students plenty of 
 work, also enables them to look for the borer. 
 
 Levelling the ground with one of the scoops is exciting work, 
 this being done by horse power. 
 
 Trenching in the nursery and sowing seeds keep some busy. 
 
 The draw hoe this month is brought into play for scraping the 
 weeds off the paths. 
 
 Weeding and raking up leaves are necessaries of the garden, 
 and have to be attended to. . 
 
 Collecting tomato seed is an interesting occupation. The truit 
 of the tomato must be of the best and largest, and perfectly ripe.. 
 
no 
 
 The pulp is abstracted througli a coarse bit of canvas, and the 
 seeds are then laid on pieces of paper to dry. 
 
 Trimming the boxthorn hedges provides plenty of work for 
 some, while others are engaged lifting rooted cuttings of vines and 
 wheeling manure. 
 
 The soil is kept in good order by the use of the plough, which 
 is used in the lower orchard, and also the hoe ; burning rubbish 
 is also carried on this month. 
 
 To trim the edges of a buffalo-grass border, the student requires 
 to have a steady hand and eye. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Harris, M.L.A., gave a lecture this month on 
 " Undeveloped Sources of Wealth," which was attended by many 
 of the public, and was very instructive as well as interesting to 
 the students. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 Pruning during this month keeps us very busy. The goose- 
 berries, dwarf apples, and pears are by this time well on the road 
 to bfeing finished. 
 
 Trenching gives a lot of work in the orchard. The word trench- 
 ing means moving the whole of the soil to the depth of 2 feet or 
 more. Fig. 2 shows mode of working. 
 
 Collecting strawberry runners and planting them in rows for 
 distribution occupies the students to their advantage. Cutting 
 down chrysanthemums and collecting tomato seed also give 
 employment, and some are engaged trenching in the nursery, and 
 putting up seed potatoes for distribution. Instructions are given 
 in ploughing in the lower orchard with the new American plough, 
 and the students are also shown this month how to lay drain- 
 pipes. Collecting the maize off the experimental plots and 
 putting up American agricultural seeds for distribution make 
 things a bit busy. 
 
 Mr. A. N. Pearson gave a very interesting lecture entitled 
 " Manures and Manuring," which was attended by many of the 
 public and students. 
 
 JULY. 
 
 This month also keeps us very busy in pruning the pear and 
 apricot. 
 
 The students are kept busy collecting codlin moths. The 
 bandages of old bagging are now taken off the stems of the trees, 
 where they have been for about two or three months. The best 
 bandages are, perhaps, those made from old (not rotten) bagging, 
 cut into strips of, say, 4 or 5 inches wide. 
 
Tlhn, 
 
 SUHvncE. 
 
 SOIL 
 
 SUBSOIL 
 
 O DRAIM 
 
 O CiRRiN 
 
 LoNEr-ITU I NM- Se«T10M 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
2 
 FIG. 3. 
 
Ill 
 
 These bands should be carefully removed, and the grubs de- 
 stroyed at least once every week. The average amount collected 
 from one tree is 90 to 100. 
 
 Scraping off the loose bark with a three-cornered hoe is another 
 good plan, and also painting the stems with a mixture of cow- 
 dung, lime, and sulphur. This preparation fills up any cracks, 
 and prevents the moths from depositing their eggs. 
 
 Spraying the aphis on the peaches gives us plenty to do, the 
 mixture used being soft soap and tobacco water. The IXL 
 and new Bordeaux mixtures are found to be very effective. A 
 dull day is generally chosen for spraying. 
 
 Eoot pruning is started this month. Cutting Cape weeds in 
 lower orchard also gives extra work. 
 
 On wet days we are occupied in the pavilion making wooden 
 labels, &c. 
 
 Planting trees in the new nursery gives us plenty to do, the 
 trees being apples, cherries, plums, pears, nuts, and a new 
 American wine berry. 
 
 Ee-planting roses in the flower border, and writing labels for 
 same, keep some of the students busily occupied. The roses are 
 planted 2ft. Gin. apart, and consist of 70 varieties. The following 
 are some of the best : — Tea-scented, Noisette, Rev. T. C. Cole, 
 L'Ideale, Marechal Mel, Cloth of Gold. 
 
 Mr. C. French, F.R.H.S., wrote a very interesting lecture on 
 "Entomology," which was read by Mr. McAlpine, the Horticul- 
 tural Board being present, also many of the public and students. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 Planting trees in the orchard this month provides the students 
 with occupation and useful knowledge. 
 
 Fig. 3. — 1 shows bad planting, the roots twisted, and the 
 soil piled up the stem like a cone. 2 shows good planting in 
 drained land, the roots spread out evenly just within the ground, 
 and the surface covered with litter of manure. 3 shows the tree 
 planted almost on the surface in wet or low-lying ground, the soil 
 for covering the roots being taken from between the trees, and 
 mulching with manure — thus another illustration of bad planting. 
 
 It is always as well when planting to shorten long roots and 
 cut off broken ends smoothly. The soil should be firmly pressed 
 about them by carefully treading — not ramming — the soil hard. 
 
 Fertilizers used when planting are bone dust, superphosphate, 
 and blood manure. When the tree has been planted cut back all 
 the branches to within 2 or 3 inches of the stem of the tree. 
 
112 
 
 Dwarf apples and pears are now being pruned. The sowing 
 of tomatoes and egg and chili seed in the hot frame in pots requires 
 our best attention. The following list contains those best 
 grown : — 
 
 Tomato. — Mikado, Mayflower, Ponderosa, The Peach, Volun- 
 teer, Optimus, Sutton's Al, Acme, Trophy, President G-arfield, 
 Keye's Early Prolific, G-reen G-age. 
 
 Egg Plant. — Black Pekin, Dwarf Purple, Long White. 
 
 Chili. — Coral Red, Tom Thumb, Spanish Mammoth, Long 
 Red, Golden Dwarf, Birdseye. There are also many grown at 
 the college not given in the above list. 
 
 We are instructed in " root-grafting " this month. One of the 
 main objects is to see that the scion and root is properly united. 
 Figs.- 5 and 6 show the most successful modes of treatment. 
 
 To keep the scion and root in position we bind them with thin 
 strips of calico. 
 
 Digging in the orchard between the trees is now being pro- 
 ceeded with, and keeps the students well employed. 
 
 Planting potatoes in the lower orchard occupies us for some 
 time. The following list gives a few of the best varieties of 
 potato : — 
 
 Crimson Beauty St. Patrick 
 
 Red King Sutton's Early Flourball 
 
 Seedling Kidney Tasmanian Red 
 
 Sutton's Magnum Bonum Vanguard 
 
 Stowbridge Glory Peach Blow, &c. 
 
 Weeding and hoeing keep one and all busy. Cutting and 
 trimming boxthorn hedge and planting vines give plenty to do. 
 
 Mr. A. C. Neate gave a very instructive lecture this month 
 entitled " Victorian Soils and Cultivation." It was attended by 
 the Horticultural Board and students and a good gathering of 
 the general public. 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 This month is one of the most interesting to the students who 
 are now instructed how to make " grafting wax." This is a 
 mixture of beeswax, tallow, and resin in equal quantities, and 
 half the quantity of lard. 
 
 These ingredients are slowly melted over a fire in a tin dish, 
 and well plastered on paper of good substance, which is cut into 
 narrow strips, and is used for wrapping around the graft in place 
 of the old-fashioned clay ball. 
 
 Sowing peas, carrots, lettuce, onions, and beet keep us aU well 
 employed. 
 
FIG. 5. 
 
 FIG. 6. 
 
113 
 
 The following varieties are some of the best grown : — 
 
 Peas. — Early Dwarf Prolific Sugar, Wm. Hurst, Duke of 
 Albany, Early Marrowfat, 
 
 Carrots. — James' Scarlet, James' Intermediate, Long Red 
 Surrey. 
 
 Lettuce. — Buttercup, Neapolitan Cabbage, Cabbage Lettuce. 
 Onion, — Brown Globe, Brown Spanish, Golden Globe. 
 Beet. — Carter's Perfection. 
 
 Lifting dahlias and chrysanthenlums in the nursery is now pro- 
 ceeded with, and is interesting work. 
 
 The students have an opportunity of seeing the mixing of 
 manures by Mr. Pearson. 
 
 The following are some of the mixtures : — 
 
 2'14 cwt. to the acre, sulphate of ammonia. 
 
 3| cwt. to the acre, Albert's P.K.N. 
 
 2^ cwt. to the acre, sulphate of ammonia. 
 
 2 cwt. to the acre, Albert's concentrated superphos. 
 
 2 cwt. to the acre, potash salt. 
 
 20 tons to the acre, stable manure. 
 
 In some of the plots the trees are not to receive any manure 
 until they come into bearing. 
 
 Spraying, hoeing, and digging in the orchard are now being 
 carried on. 
 
 Planting fruit trees on Pearson's experimental plots gives the 
 students an opportunity of learning how to mix the fertilizers 
 with the soil. 
 
 Pansy seeds are now set in the nursery. 
 
 A very interesting experiment to kill the weeds in the foot- 
 paths is now being tried. 
 
 The following mixture is used : — 
 
 Arsenic ... ... 1 lb. 
 
 Caustic soda ... ... 1 lb. 
 
 The two ingredients are put into a wooden tub, and boiling 
 water poured on, keeping the mixture well stirred until dissolved 
 after which 100 gallons of water are added. This is then poured 
 on the paths with a watering pot, and we hope the experiment 
 will be a great success. 
 
 Mowing the lawns with a mower in front of the pavilion keeps 
 some of us busy. 
 
 Mr. W. R. Guilfoyle, F.L.S., delivered an interesting lecture 
 entitled " Glimpses of some British Botanical Gardens and their 
 Conservatories," the Horticultural Board being present, besides 
 many of the general public and students. 
 
 826. H 
 
114 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 The work of this month is mainly tying up vines and thinning 
 out the laterals and stripping plum stocks of their leaves to pre- 
 pare the stocks for budding ; and cutting up Cape weeds in the 
 lower orchard. The last is a very necessary operation, as the 
 weed has got a good hold in the ground and takes away a lot of 
 plant food from the fruit trees. 
 
 Hoeing and digging around the flower borders give us plenty 
 of employment. Ploughing in the orchard and disbudding peach 
 trees are now being carried on. 
 
 The planting of melons and vegetable marrows gives the 
 students plenty to do. 
 
 The following are the names of some of the principal varieties 
 grown : — 
 
 Booh Melon. — Emerald Gem. 
 
 Cucumbers. — Noa's Forcing. 
 
 Water Melon.— KoVo Gem, Cuban Queen, The Boss, Mr. 
 Phenicy. 
 
 Vegetable Marrows. — Long Green, Long White, Long Cream, 
 Custard, Penny Bid, also Turk's Cap, Gregory Sugar Pumpkin, 
 Dilpassant, Mammoth Chili, Ironbark Pumpkin. 
 
 Collecting oranges and shaddocks from under the trees is one 
 of the necessaries of the orchard. 
 
 A very interesting lecture was given by Mr. R. L. J. Ellery 
 on " Bee Culture." The Horticultural Board, students, and a good 
 number of the general piiblic attended. 
 
 NOVEMBER. 
 
 This month is most interesting and instructive to the students. 
 
 Setting lobelias around the pavilion occupies some of us. 
 
 Thinning out the laterals of the vine has to be carefully 
 attended to. A new cultivator has just been introduced into our 
 college called the " planet junior," and it is found most useful ; 
 it is easily worked, and may be used as a seed drill, wheel hoe, 
 and rake. 
 
 Tying up raspberries in the lower orchard has to be seen to. 
 
 Some of the students are planting out tomatoes in the nursery 
 and mulching them with manure. 
 
 The list of varieties grown is given under the heading of work 
 in the month of August. 
 
 Mulching is nothing more than covering the ground about the 
 stems of plants with coarse straw or litter, which, by preventing 
 
115 
 
 eyaporation, keeps the soil from becoming dry, and maintains it in 
 that moist and equable condition of temperature most favorable 
 to the requirements of young roots. 
 
 Planting tree dahlias and ornamental beet around the flower 
 borders is now being proceeded with. 
 
 Summer pruning the peach and the pear gives the students 
 plenty to occupy their hands and mind. 
 
 When a tree has arrived at the age of three or more years, 
 summer pruning is not required so much. 
 
 Mixing manures for fruit trees in the orchard is now being 
 attended to. 
 
 The students are kept busy fighting the pear and cherry slug 
 (Selandria cerasi). This little destructive insect is easily seen 
 with the naked eye when in the larva state ; it is a small dark- 
 greenish slimy caterpillar, found on the leaves of the pear, cherry, 
 and other trees, which they injure very much by gnawing the 
 epidermis ofE the upper portion of the leaves and leaving the 
 under side untouched. 
 
 Dusting the infested trees with dry sand will kill the slug, but 
 not its eggs. 
 
 Spraying the trees with a mixture of soft soap and water also 
 kills the slug, but not its eggs. The proportions used are 2 ozs. 
 to a gallon of water. 
 
 Hellebore powder — at the rate of 1 lb. to 20 gallons of water, 
 and sprayed on the tree — is found to be the most efEective remedy 
 for the prevention of this pest. 
 
 Ploughing in the orchard with the aid of the horse, and 
 hoeing, digging, and weeding give some of the students 
 occupation. 
 
 Planting egg and chili plants is now being attended to. 
 
 Mowing grass on the lawns with a scythe and planting seed 
 of the sugar beet and beans in the lower orchard give us plenty 
 to do. 
 
 Beans are now being set, the distance apart of the rows being 
 2 feet. 
 
 The list given below enumerates some of the best grown : — 
 Emperor William, Canadian Wonder, Golden Waxpod, Ne Plus 
 Ultra, &c. 
 
 Thinning out onions in the lower orchard gives work to the 
 students. 
 
 Rooted chrysanthemums are now being planted in the nursery. 
 The following are some of the best grown : — Sunset, Mrs. H. 
 Cannell, Lady St. Clair, Gold, Sunflower, Lady Lawrence. There 
 are a great many more varieties, but too numerous to mention. 
 
 Mr. McAlpine's experimental wheat plots look very well. Mr. 
 Greenlaw has got the looking after them. 
 
 Cutting dead-wood out of oranges gives us work. 
 
116 
 
 DECEMBER, 
 
 The flower garden looks very well this month in spite of the 
 great heat (80 degrees in the shade), and one cannot help seeing 
 a very fine specimen of the Grevillea robusta, order Proteaceae, 
 which just now is in bloom in the gardens. 
 
 Budding apple trees is started this month. There are five 
 points to be remembered in budding — 
 
 1. The sap must be free. 
 
 2. The root action good. 
 
 3. The work done cleanly. 
 
 4. The binding not too tight. 
 
 5. The stock or stem not cut back the same season. 
 
 The students this month are occupied in disbudding peaches. 
 
 Planting dahlias in the nursery is now going on. The best 
 sorts are — Zulu, Mr. A. W. Tait, Yellow Pet, Sunshine, Empress 
 of India, and many other varieties too numerous to mention. 
 
 The cherry slug is now getting troublesome, and has to be kept 
 under by constant spraying with hellebore mixture. 
 
 Hoeing up weeds in the medicinal plots has to be attended to. 
 
 We started picking fruit this month — gooseberries, currants, 
 and plums. The varieties of plums are Red Cherry Plum and 
 St. Etienne. 
 
 Meteorological instruments have been carefully attended to 
 during the year, and the rainfall has been unusually heavy. 
 
 Mr. L. T. Chambers gave a very interesting lecture on " Bee 
 Culture," which was well attended by the public, the Horticultural 
 Board and students also being present. 
 
 The students are now looking forward to their usual Christmas 
 holidays, and are working with a will to tidy up the grounds. 
 
117 
 
 ESSAY ON TRIP TO DUNOLLY SCENT 
 FARM, 1893. 
 
 The second annual trip of the students of the Horticultural 
 College, Burnley, to the Government Scent Farm took place on 
 the 23rd Novemher, 1893; some of them, taking advantage of the 
 exceptionally fine weather, left Melbourne by the 12.5 p.m. train. 
 The run to Castlemaine passes through Keilor Plains and Sun- 
 bury, where the vineyards were looking their best, the dark- 
 green foliage being very pleasing to the eye. 
 
 On the right a very noticeable mansion — the country home of 
 Sir William Clarke — stands out prominently and, with its beautiful 
 artificial lake and well-kept park-like grounds, adds much to the 
 beauty of the landscape. 
 
 We journeyed on through Macedon, which gave us the impres- 
 sion of being a charming resort for summer visitors. 
 
 Numerous residences are dotted about, and we got a glimpse of 
 the vice-regal residence high up on the mount. 
 
 Kyneton, our next halting place, is a town of considerable note, 
 being the centre of a large agricultural district. 
 
 Malmsbury is next passed, and one cannot help noticing its 
 reservoir. The country is undulating, and many acres seem to be 
 under crop. 
 
 After passing two or three stations we reached Castlemaine at 
 4 p.m., where some of us broke the journey to look round this 
 formerly famous gold-mining centre. 
 
 We were fortunate in having an introduction to Mr. Max: 
 Pincus, chemist, who received us in the kindest manner, and 
 showed us round the town, pointing out the most interesting 
 sights. 
 
 The town is still mainly supported by the gold mines. The 
 streets are wide, and laid out at right angles as in Melbourne. 
 
 The market buildings add to the appearance of the city, and 
 another important building is the post-office, which has a hand- 
 some clock with mechanical process for self-lighting it at night. 
 
 The buildings of the Supreme Court, gold offices, and Treasury 
 are of good design. 
 
 We visited the monument erected by the citizens to the memory 
 of the explorers Burke, Wills, and King. It occupies a fine position, 
 and bears an inscription commemorating the exploits of the ex- 
 plorers in crossing the continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria. The leader, Mr. Burke, was a resident of Castle- 
 maine prior to accepting the command of the expedition. 
 
 The churches, of which there are many, occupy good positions, 
 being mostly erected on high ground. There are two State 
 schools. 
 
118 
 
 The School of Mines and gaol are built in prominent positions. 
 
 The city seems to be in advance of many others of the same 
 population, being lighted by electricity. 
 
 Time being short we paid but a hurried visit to the benevolent 
 asylum, where we chatted with the resident doctor. The building 
 is of Gothic design, and with its many gables, muUioned windows, 
 and terraces might be taken for an old Tudor mansion. 
 
 The park, which comprises about 70 acres, has a sheet of water, 
 a fountain, a fern grove, and a collection of choice shrubs and trees. 
 
 (Figure 2 shows view taken from the botanical-gardens, the 
 benevolent asylum in the distance.) 
 
 The chimes of the post-office clock striking 8 reminded us 
 that we must hasten to the train that was to carry us to our 
 destination — Maryborough — and after taking leave of the doctor 
 we hastened by moonlight to the station, where we were glad to 
 find the members of the Horticultural Board, including our 
 lecturer, Professor McAlpine, and other visitors interested in the 
 scent industry. 
 
 A two hours' run landed us at Maryborough, and we were glad 
 to reach comfortable quarters for the night. 
 
 This brought the first day to a close. 
 
 Saturday morning being fine, some of the students rose early to 
 see what changes had taken place since their last visit; but as the 
 train to Dunolly left at 6 a.m. we had to hasten. The new law 
 courts, which were then unfinished, are now completed, and the 
 building adds to the appearance of the town. 
 
 On our walk to the station" we noticed a very fine specimen of 
 Magnolia. 
 
 On reaching the station our party consisted of members of the 
 Horticultural Board, Professor McAlpine, Mr. Max Pineus, Mr. 
 J. N. Cairo, Mr. McFarlane, Mr. Ogle, Mr. Churchill, and the 
 students. 
 
 The railway trip to Dunolly occupied about one hour. 
 
 The country passed through seems good for agricultural pur- 
 poses, as we noticed several fine vineyards and farms all looking 
 well. On reaiching Dunolly we were received by the mayor, J. 
 Desmond, Esq., J.P., Mr. Morris, and many of the leading coun- 
 cillors and citizens. A pleasant walk through the principal streets 
 soon brought us to our hotel, where a sumptuous breakfast awaited 
 us, to which we all did arnple justice. 
 
 The mayor now escorted us round the township, pointing out 
 and explainiflg anything especially interesting. 
 
 We first visited the reservoir, which is a fine sheet of pure water, 
 and continued our walk along the banks, and passed the Roman 
 Catholic Church, which is built on an elevated position, and is of 
 modem design ; in contrast to which, on our right, is seen an old 
 digger's hut. 
 
^/'* V 
 
119 
 
 We passed the residence of Mr. Tatchell, and noticed a fine 
 crop of strawberries of The Captain variety. 
 
 The public gardens (which are well kept) were next visited ; 
 and they contain some fine specimens of the Portugal laurel 
 {Cerasis lusitanica) growing in great luxuriance. 
 
 "We were then escorted to the town hall by the mayor, and 
 shown the concert hall and other fine rooms. The building is of 
 modern structure and of good design, and adds greatly to the 
 architectural beauty of the town. Mr. Caire, photographer (who 
 accompanied us through our trip here), succeeded in taking a view 
 of the exterior of the building. 
 
 It was now time to take our departure to our destination — the 
 Scent Farm ; and we mustered in the main street, where we found 
 the drag (kindly lent by Mr. Morris, ex-mayor) awaiting us. The 
 students were soon all seated, and, after three cheers and waving 
 of hats, a good start was made. 
 
 The post-office was considered worthy of a place in this essay, 
 and while the students were settling themselves in the drag a 
 snapshot was taken. 
 
 The road to the farm is about 7 miles, and is generally fairly 
 good, but owing to the recent floods it was much cut up, and 
 it was as much as we could do to keep our seats. A few new 
 homesteads were passed, with some amount of cultivation around 
 them. The perfume from the Eucalyptus was very strong and 
 refreshing. After about two hours' driving we came in sight of 
 the Scent Farm, where we saw the Australian ensign floating in 
 the breeze in honour of our visit. 
 
 The director, Mr. Mellon, was awaiting our arrival, and gave 
 us a hearty welcome. He showed us round the farm, describing 
 things of interest. We inspected a bed of over 3,000 cuttings 
 of the true Lavender (^Lavandula vera), and close by was the 
 cassie {Acacia Farnesiana), the scent from which plant closely 
 resembles that of the wattle blossom. We were shown a new 
 variety of fig, which Mr. Mellon told us has good qualities for 
 drying, containing sugar and salt in proper proportions, and 
 known as the Belona Fig. 
 
 We next passed the tuberose {Polianthes tuberosd), which 
 grows well. The plants have to be ihree years old before they are 
 of any use. The double varieties give most perfume. Violets 
 ( Viola odorata) grow well, and produce a valuable perfume. A 
 very fine bed of lavender is passed {Lavandula spica). 
 
 The lavender is planted about 5 feet apart, and we were told 
 that it grows wild on the Alps. 
 
 Lavandula Stcechas, we are informed, is' extensively used for 
 perfuming soap. We were shown a fine bed of Boronia, and told 
 that the perfume retains its strength longer when the trees are 
 well cut down after the flowering season. 
 
120 
 
 The scent of the jonquil {Narcissus jonquilla) is abstracted 
 by the enfleurage process. 
 
 The perfume of the Geranium of Africa is much stronger than 
 that of the G-eranium of Eose. 
 
 We next passed a fine bed of fennel, and a small plant Mr. 
 Mellon calls serpolet, which produces a rich and pleasant smelling 
 oil. 
 
 Some fine plants of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis^) were 
 seen, which forms the basis of Eau de Cologne ; also beds 
 of peppermint. 
 
 We were shown varieties of the Seville Orange, this being the 
 kind best adapted for producing the oil of Neroli, a valuable 
 essential oil largely used in the manufacture of perfumes. 
 
 The plants at the farm are all arranged in rows running 
 due north and south, so as to obtain full benefit from the sun- 
 shine. 
 
 We were told that this is of importancie, as on the influence of the 
 sun depends ip a great measure the quality of the essential oil 
 obtainable from the plant. We noticed some fine-looking shrubs 
 of the Sweet Verbena, also the Eucalyptus citriodora, and the 
 Eose de Grass {Rosa centifolia), which valuable plant produces 
 the Attar of Eoses. 
 
 We inspected the beds of wallflower, tansy, and mint, which 
 grow wild on the Alps. Their perfume is used for scenting soap. 
 We were then taken to the distillery, where we were shown 
 three stills at work. One of 300 gallons cost £80 ; one of 
 50 gallons £30 ; and one of 20 gallons £5, all of which answer 
 admirably. 
 
 The director informed us he considers that a still of 30 to 50 
 gallons capacity will be sufl5.cient for small farms growing only 
 one sort of plants. Figure 5 shows a still, in the working of 
 which we were instructed. The stills are fitted with a false 
 inside, and this is tightly packed with flowers, and then filled 
 with water. They are then ready for working, and all that is 
 needed is to fire up beneath them. The most important point is 
 to know how to regulate the fires. 
 
 If roses are being distilled, some alum and salt must be put 
 with them. 
 
 When being emptied, the top of the still is swung round to 
 open it, and the false inside hoisted out by means of tackle, thus 
 saving a great amount of labour. 
 
 We were told a separate still for each perfume is not absolutely 
 needed, as by using sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, 1 part to 20 
 of water, the stills are easily and perfectly cleansed. 
 
 A move was made to the store-rooms, where the extracts in 
 course of preparation are kept ; here we were shown the fat used 
 to absorb the scent. Mutton, beef, and pork fats are used in 
 
FIG. 5. 
 
121 
 
 equal quantities, prepared by boiling, adding 2 ounces of alum 
 and a handful of salt to 20 pounds of fat. The mixture is then 
 passed through a sieve to free it from all impurities. 
 
 This process has to be repeated, when it is ready to be stored 
 away for use. 
 
 This fat, after being treated with spirit, retains some amount 
 of odour, and is useful for pomatum. 
 
 Mr. Mellon now described the processes for extracting the 
 scent. 
 
 The Fat ok Enpleueage Process. 
 
 The flowers are gathered, and are placed upon a layer of pure 
 lard, a quarter of an inch in thickness, spread over a sheet of 
 glass about 2 feet square, which is framed in wood, and forms a 
 kind of tray. 
 
 Tiese trays, sometimes 40 or 50 together, are then piled one 
 upon another. The flowers are changed every 12, 18, or 24 
 hours, according to circumstances, and the process is thus con- 
 tinued until the lard is sufficiently charged with perfume. 
 
 The fat has the property of absorbing the perfume from the 
 flowers, and is then treated with spirits of wine, which has the 
 power of taking the scent from the fat. 
 
 We were informed that jasmine and tuberose are frequently 
 charged as often as 50 times before the lard is considered to be 
 sufficiently impregnated. 
 
 Another process is by macerating the flowers in oil, after 
 which they are put under a press to extract all the oil and 
 perfume, and this oil is treated with spirit of wine in the same 
 manner as the fat. 
 
 Another process is by saturating calico in oil, and allowing the 
 oil to drop from it for a few minutes; then place the calico in a 
 tray similar to the enfleurage process, but with a wire gauze 
 bottom instead of glass. The flowers are changed from time to 
 time. When the oil is mixed with the scent it is pressed, and the 
 calico washed in spirit. 
 
 Oil of peanuts is the best for the purpose, but olive oil can be 
 used. 
 
 The temperature has a great efiect on the time taken for these 
 processes. A warm atmosphere quickens the extraction, but the 
 productiou is not so good as in cooler weather, so that the longer 
 the time taken the better the scent. 
 
 Mr. Mellon informed us that he can teach any ordinary intelli- 
 gent person the knowledge of the work required in the cultiva- 
 tion of the plants. The majority of the scent-producing plants 
 grow with very little trouble and attention. 
 
 The extraction of the scent needs care, but a knowledge of 
 the process is easily acquired. 
 
 826. ^ 
 
122 
 
 The following is a list of plants grown on the farm, and the 
 modes of abstracting the scent were explained : — 
 
 Wattle {Acacia Farnesiana) ... ... Enfleurage. 
 
 Boronia {Boronia megastigma) 
 
 ( „ polygalifolia) ... 
 Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) 
 Mignonette {Reseda odorata) 
 Yiolet {Viola odorata) 
 Jonquil {Narcissus jonquilla) 
 Juniper {Juniperus communis') ... ... Distillation. 
 
 Wordwood {Artemisia absinthium) ... 
 
 Ironbark {Eucalyptus Leucoxylon)... 
 
 Lemon-scented Gum {Eucalyptus citriodora). 
 
 Bouvardia. 
 
 Orange {Citrus cergamia) ... ... Distillation. 
 
 „ ( „ bergamia) 
 Lavender {Lavandula vera) 
 { „ spica) 
 
 ,, ( „ decussata) ... 
 
 „ ( „ Stcechas) 
 
 Pennyroyal {Mentha Puleguim) 
 Peppermint ( „ piperita) 
 Fennel [Fcenieulum capillaceum) ... 
 Rosemary {Rosmarinus officinalis) 
 Geranium {Pelargonium odoratissimum) 
 
 „ { „ capitatum) 
 
 Anis {Pimpinella Anisum) 
 Wild Thyme. 
 Celery. 
 Lilium eximium. 
 
 We then went into the laboratory, where we saw a splendid 
 collection of Eucalyptus oils and other perfumes — Eucalyptus 
 globulus, amygdalina, rostrata, Stiiartiana, &c., and also some 
 different extracts from the flowers. 
 
 Mr. 'Mellon now proposed that we should devote our time and 
 attention to a most excellent luncheon which awaited us. 
 
 Mr. Martin, the Secretary for Agriculture, occupied the chair, 
 the mayor sitting on his right. 
 
 Among the guests we noticed Councillors Ritchie, J.P., Daly, 
 J.P., J. Russell, the town clerk, and Dr. Russell. 
 
 Mr. Tatchell, the member for the district, only made his 
 appearance at the close of the repast, his parliamentary duties 
 keeping him away. 
 
 After the usual loyal toasts had been drunk. Parliament was 
 proposed by the Chairman, coupled with the name of Mr. J. 
 Harris, M.L.A. 
 
123 
 
 In responding, Mr. Harris said he regretted the duty had not 
 fallen into better hands. The speech from beginning to finish 
 was practical, and in his usual happy and humorous style, and the 
 applause was great throughout. 
 
 The next toast proposed by the Chairman was the Dunollj, 
 Borough Council, coupled with the name of Mr. Desmond, the 
 mayor. The Chairman remarked that most townships had some 
 object of interest to take visitors to. He was glad Dunolly was 
 proud of its Scent Farm, so ably managed by Mr. Mellon. 
 
 The mayor, in responding, apologized for the absence of the 
 member for the district, Mr. Tatchell, and delivered a very able 
 speech, bearing mostly on local matters. 
 
 Mr. Ritchie next proposed success to the Scent Farm, coupled 
 with the name of Mr. Mellon. It had been a very up-hill under- 
 taking to face, but, under Mr. Mellon's able management, had 
 been a great success. 
 
 In responding, Mr. Mellon was received with great applause, 
 and gave a very interesting account of the Scent Farm from its 
 commencement, and the future prospects of the industry, which 
 he painted in glowing colours. If we could produce the essential 
 oils in sufficient quantities a European market is waiting at 
 remunerative prices. 
 
 Dr. Cookson proposed the Horticultural Board, coupled with 
 the name of Mr. Draper. 
 
 Mr. Draper thanked the guests for the way they had drunk 
 the toast. The members were proud to visit the Scent Farm. He 
 always thought highly of the district, and was, like Mr. Harris, 
 anxious to know the financial results of the Scent Farm. 
 
 Mr. Lang proposed the Press. He indorsed the remarks of 
 Mr. Harris and Mr. Draper, and hoped the industry would prove 
 a financial success, which would add greatly to the prosperity of 
 the colony. 
 
 Mr. Williamson (of the Express), Mr. Carruthers (of the Glad- 
 stone Gazette), and Mr. McFarlane {Leader) briefly responded. 
 
 One of the senior students had the honour of proposing the 
 health of their instructor. Professor McAlpine, which was done 
 in a few. appropriate remarks. The toast was enthusiastically 
 drunk, with musical honours. 
 
 Mr. McAlpine, in responding, said he was taken quite aback 
 for once in his life. He highly appreciated the kindly feeling 
 shown by one of the students in proposing his health in such a 
 spontaneous manner. He had great pleasure in proposing the 
 health of their worthy Chairman, Mr. Martin, who had always 
 taken a great interest in the Dunolly Scent Farm. 
 
 The mayor spoke in the highest terms of the valuable services 
 rendered by Mr. Martin to make the Dunolly Scent Farm a 
 success. 
 
124 
 
 The Chairman, on rising to reply, was loudly applauded. He 
 endeavoured his best to develop the resources of the country. From 
 the first he had taken a great interest in the success of the Scent, 
 Farm, and would have liked to see a village settlement attached 
 to the farm, in which case the children of the settlers could be 
 profitably employed during the busy season. 
 
 Mr. Caire now grouped the party, and succeeded in taking a 
 very admirable photograph. 
 
 Other smaller groups were then taken by one of the students of 
 the college, which have turned out very satisfactory — one repre- 
 senting the students seated in the drag on their return journey to 
 catch the 5-o'clock train. 
 
 The usual cheers and waving of hats were given in honour of 
 the trip, and the outing wiU long be remembered by all as most 
 instructive and enjoyable. 
 
 By Authority : Robt. S. Brain, Government Printer, Melbourne.