236 GRAINS AND FRUITS. [1S39. 



not quite one-fifth part of all the species of plants in the 

 known world ; and if their utility only equalled their variety, 

 she would, indeed, be a paradise. But so far from this be- 

 ing the case, there is, in reality, a deficiency of native fruits 

 and vegetables, adapted for human food, without parallel on 

 the globe. 



Of the cerealia there is not a single species indigenous to 

 the country; the only substitute for them being a kind of 

 reed, which the early settlers found to make very light and 

 palatable cakes. But since its colonization, every species of 

 grain — wheat, rye, Indian corn, barley and oats — has been 

 introduced into Australia, and is now cultivated with suc- 

 cess, though the crops are far more liable to fail here than 

 they are in more equable climates. The yield of wheat 

 ranges from ten to forty bushels per acre, — the greatest 

 quantity being obtained on the low grounds. The kernel is 

 large and plump, and the average weight of a bushel of the 

 best quality is sixty-two pounds. 



Grasses of all kinds are abundant and highly nutritious; 

 but these, like the numerous ferns and nettles, and many 

 varieties of (lowers, have the form and habits of trees, and 

 grow in detached clumps, and not in a continuous sward. 

 The only native fruits are raspberries, currants, a species of 

 cherry, one or two tasteless fruits, and a nut deservedly 

 held in small estimation. The currants are much like cran- 

 berries in form and appearance ; but the Australian cherry is 

 a most singular monstrosity. It grows on a large bush ; the 

 fruit consisting of a spongy pulp, that shrinks a good deal 

 when fully ripe, on the outside of which, contrary to the 

 usual order of things, and firmly adhering to it, is the stone 

 or pit. Of the tasteless fruits, the wooden pear is one of the 

 most remarkable : it is the product of a low shrub, and, in 

 outward appearance, resembles the rich fruit of the same 

 name which we prize so highly ; but, within, it is as hard as 

 lignum vitas. When this plant was first discovered, it occa- 

 sioned the remark concerning Australia, that it was a strange 



