April 10, 1866. ] 



JOUBKAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEKER. 



2C7 



GARDENING PROSrECTS IX QUEENSLAND. 



away over a wide waste 

 f waters there is a goodly 

 nd, the coast of which is 

 circled by the South Pacitic 

 cean. It is a land of rivers 

 and of woods, of large sweeps 

 of down oU'eriuf; rich pastiu-age to a thousand herds — a 

 land, if not cxacth' " (lowing with milk and honey," yet 

 answering so promptly and .so liberally to the laboui'er s 

 call, tliat I tliink a little intelligence about it, coming for 

 the most part from working men themselves, may be alike 

 interesting and useful. It is a land where, I am told, the 

 settlers live at first in tents, with " no rent to pay, nor 

 firing to buj-. nor poor's rates, nor any other rates : no dog 

 tax nor shooting license ; — where we live, in fact, just like 

 we read of in the Bible." 



After a while the tent is transformed into a " humpy," 

 or house built of logs of wood, where " I sit," says an emi- 

 grant, '■ sixteen thousand miles away from the old city, 

 with a cloudless sky above me, the deliciously soft and 

 balmy breeze of a Queensland spring morning wliispering 

 tlirough the Gums and Cedars in the valley below, and 

 stealing in at my open window, tlie magnificent river 

 (Brisbane) creeping slowly roimd tlie foot of the hills on 

 its way to the sea, and all around giving promise of com- 

 petence, if not wealth, to a man who has the sldll and the 

 heart to work hard for a few years, live economically, and 

 keep both Ids eyes wide open." 



The cost of building the humpy would be but a few 

 shillings, " as it could be built of bark, and the black 

 fellows would bring in from the forest sufficient to build a 

 house for a few figs of tobacco, which at the most woidd 

 only cost four or five shillings ; or if built of logs, and you 

 could not spht the wood yourself, tlie rail-spUtters would 

 bring you a sufficient number of logs to build a house for 

 a pound or thirtj' sliilUngs." 



Were I to describe the furniture of this very primitive 

 dwelling it might startle all ideas of comfort from an 

 Englishman's mind in England. " I am my own cabinet- 

 maker," says another emigrant to me, " and you would be 

 surprised to see how handy I have become, and what lovely 

 articles of fmiiiture I can laiock up out of an old box. 

 Everytliing comes in — bits of tin from old packages — old 

 calicoes and cloth — in short, an)' and every thing." 



The humpy wiU probably be situated on a " bit of land 

 of my own," the produce of the "land order" given to 

 every emigi-ant who pays the i'lH for his own passage ; or 

 it may be acquired after this fasliion : — " My father." writes 

 a young settler, " has a piece of land — not a very large 

 piece to be sm-e, but it is sufficient to build a house upon, 

 and also to grow garden stufi" to serve liim all the year 



Ko. 263.— V"L. X., New Series, 



roimd. It is not quite three-quarters of an acre. The 

 price was to be i'fl. with i'l for the transfer. Father was 

 to work the price out." 



" Tlie " bit of land of my own ' may, if near a to\ra, be 

 tm-ned to most profitable accoimt as a market garden, and 

 it ■ivill be found to produce a little more than tlie I'otatoes, 

 Cabbage. Peas, Asparagus, &c.. of England, and with infi- 

 nitely less trouble. " There is a heap of rubbish," writes 

 one of my friends, " by the side of the footpath. Out of 

 five Pine-Apple tops which seem to liave been thrown down 

 promiscuously, one has taken root, and if left alone wiU 

 bear fruit. Here are Tobacco plants springing up too. 

 Water Melons, Pumpldns, and a number of plants, only 

 seen m forcing-houses in England, all starting into vigorous 

 life from this heap of rubbish." 



But there is more than the produce of the rubbish heap, 

 or every man would be his own rubbish-gardener, and 

 market-gardeners have little custom. " It is now i Sep- 

 tember) spring with us," says the same friend ; " the Peach 

 trees, with which every garden hereabouts seems crowded, 

 are all covered with blossom so thickly that you cannot 

 see the wood of the branches. The Rose trees, that through 

 the ^vinter have only had here and there a bloom upon 

 them, are now bursting out on every spray." StUl. I'caches 

 tliat are ready to drop into every open mouth can hardly 

 pay for the trouble of growing : nor would they and the 

 rubbish heap combined satisfy the demands of cooks — a 

 class noted for being a little uppish, particularly in a land 

 where " our Clara," a gui of about twelve, " is gettuig ilH 

 a-year ; " but there are many vegetables as well as fruits. 



" We get plenty of Bananas," writes a market gardener's 

 assistant to me, " and Sweet Potatoes to eat raw ; they 

 taste a good deal like the pig or ground nuts. We also 

 get very good Cabbages, and the same kind of Potatoes as 

 we had at home. My master and I have planted a large 

 piece of land with Cotton [the Queensland cotton shown 

 at the Exhibition of lnnv! was pronounced fine, evenly 

 grown, and good], and he is growing acres of Arrow-root. 

 The plants look Uke great Onions, only they have very 

 broad leaves. We have also planted Indian Corn and 

 Lucern. We are now (October), mowing the Oats for the 

 cattle, as the ear does not fill. We gi-ow Sugar, Oranges, 

 Lemons. Peaches, Pine Apples, Locusts [Ceratonia siliqua], 

 Guavas, Tea, and Tobacco ; also Carrots, Turnips, Radishes, 

 Lettuces. Onions, and Cucumbers, with many others the 

 names of wliicli I do not know." That there is some gar- 

 den produce which is not easily found in Queensland may 

 be learned from a request made by the same wi-iter to his 

 brotlier, about to join him in Queensland. " Please bring," 

 he says, " roots of Thyme, Sage, Rue. Rhubarb. Cunants, 

 Gooseberries, Horseradish. Leeks. IMarigolds. and Box, in 

 air-tight boxes ; bring also some hips, haws, aconis. Chest- 

 nuts, and Willows, also all sorts of English flower seeds." 

 The writer was in IHti'i a weaver in England ; and during 

 a great depression in the trade he, with several brothers 

 and sisters, togetlier with Ids parents, euugrated to Queens- 

 land, where he learned a gardener's profession to such 



good purpose, that in 18(;.') I hear •' W , A , and 



D have taken a farm to work it as a market garden. 



No. 915.— Vol, XXXY., Old Series. 



