238 TROPICAL PLANTS. [1839. 



Attempts have been made in New South Wales, and other 

 districts in southern Australia, to cultivate the cotton plant, 

 but without much success. The soil and climate of the 

 Cobourg peninsula, on the north, and the tropical portion of 

 Australia generally, are well adapted, however, to its growth, 

 [ndeed, no other description of produce promises so well in 

 this section of the continent: if the seed is sown at the 

 proper season, the plants come forward rapidly, and arrive at 

 maturity just after the close of the rainy season, when the 

 long period of dry weather which ensues, affords ample time 

 and opportunity for gathering the crop without any liability 

 to be injured by moisture. 



The coffee bush has been tried in northern Australia, but 

 the attempt to cultivate it proved a decided failure. This 

 plant delights in a volcanic soil, and will not flourish else- 

 where. Yet it is remarked, that the peculiar aspect of Aus- 

 tralian vegetation disappears, in some measure, in that portion 

 of the continent within the tropics ; the greater number of 

 those plants common to other countries are found here ; and 

 the trees and shrubs assimilate more nearly to those seen in 

 India. Chili pepper has been tried with success, and the 

 round pepper would, undoubtedly, thrive equally as well. 

 Spices, too, when planted under the shade, of the forest trees, 

 like the, nutmeg bush at Banda, grow vigorously, and bear 

 an abundant product. The sugar-cane, and almost all other 

 tropical productions, would, in like manner, thrive in the 

 lower latitudes of the north; and when this portion of the 

 country becomes more thickly settled than it now is, its hith- 

 erto untried capabilities will be shown fully to equal the ex- 

 pectations of those who may test them, if any reliance what- 

 soever may be. placed on the appearance of the soil, and the 

 character of the. climate. 



One who is familiar with the forest scenery of Brazil will 

 not fail to be struck with the marked resemblance of the 

 Australian woods. Here, also, there is an almost entire 

 absence of underbrush, and the ivn-s are. rarely set so close 

 as to impede travelling, either on horseback or in a carriage ; 



