Chips and Slips. 739 



central desert may yet " blossom as the rose." Formerly when there were no 

 sheep to keep down the grass, fires were frequent and terribly destruc- 

 tive to trees and all vegetation, but since the stocking of the country 

 there is less grass for the fires to consume, and their ravages are conse- 

 quently becoming limited in extent. Queensland, especially, Mr. Lands- 

 borough declares, is now so unfit for sheep-pasturing, that no one thinks of 

 making a living by them. The observations of this experienced traveller are 

 well worthy of attention, and it will certainly be interesting to watch the 

 changes caused by the presence of civilized men in Australia, as we know 

 exactly its condition at their first advent. — Nature. 



Serious Ravages of the Boeer. — Mr. Fink, gardener in chief at Washing- 

 ton Park, in this city, says the Albany Cultivator, brought to our notice last 

 week a very curious instance of the destruction of young trees by the borer. 

 He had set out last spring 1,000 Austrian and Scotch pines, but notwith- 

 standing watering, mulching, and the best of care, they were found to be 

 drooping, and finally 800 of the number were evidently dead. Examination 

 showed that their stems, in some cases to a height of twenty inches from the 

 ground, were full of borers, as many as two hundred having been taken out of 

 a single tree. It is possible that in their full vitality most of the trees might 

 have survived and outgrown the attack, but coming as it did when their 

 vigour had been checked by transplanting, it proved fatal. 



The Indian Irrigation Works. — Before the Indian Government spends 

 millions in irrigation works as a means of averting famine for the future we 

 trust the proposal will be well considered. Irrigation works may be most 

 desirable in some places where rice is the staple crop, but in localities where 

 dry grains, such as millet, rape, and pulse are grown, other systems must be 

 employed. The Forest Conservators may do much good by stopping indis- 

 criminate feeling, reafforesting denuded tracts, and thus keeping the springs 

 up to their level. The indigenous plants, especially the grasses and forage 

 plants of the country, should be more attended to, the ryots protected in their 

 industry from usurers, and the general routine of Government administration 

 simplified. — Gardener s Chronicle. 



Large Cork Tree. — In the kitchen-garden at Somerstown House, Cork, the 

 residence of Mr. Alexander, there is what is, perhaps, the largest cork tree that 

 exists in Great Britain or Ireland. The following are the measurements which 

 I made of it last week :— Girth at 1ft. above the ground, 13 ft. 5 in.; girth of 

 trunk at 7 ft. above ground, 15 ft. It branches out at the last-named height. 

 The arms are very large, the girth of one being 7 ft. 5 in. ; the spread of the 

 branches is over 60 feet, and both trunk and branches are covered to a great 

 depth with cork bark. — Gardener^ s Record. 



Large Aeaucarias. — From letters we have received respecting large arau- 

 carias we gather that the finest tree in England is the splendid specimen at 

 Dropmore, which exceeds 60 feet in height, and is about fifty years old. There 

 are also very fine examples at Messrs. Mitchell's nurseries at Piltdown, also in 

 the great Berkhampstead nurseries of Messrs. Lane. Seed has been ripened 

 and seedlings raised in those nurseries, also at Strathfieldsaye (the Duke of 

 Wellington's), Warfield (Lord Ormathwaite's), and at Bicton (Lady Rolle's), 

 where very fine trees may be seen. The trees are generally dioecious, but at 

 Bicton and at Castle Martyi- (Earl of Shannon's) both male and female catkins 

 have been produced on the same trees. Seeds have been ripened in Scotland 



