2G8 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 10, 1866. 



and fatlicr and A Imvc been fencing acJ clearing it, wliilo 



W and D remained at service, so as to have the meo&B 



of purchasing Btore.s until the first crop curao in. The farm 

 is vcri' jileasantly situated on the banks of the river Brisbane. 

 I went out into the forc-t for a day's shooting about a fort- 

 night ago (September), and towards night found myself rather 

 nnexpectedly ut their fence, when I got over and looked at tho 

 firm for the fir.st time. They had cleared about four acres, 

 and a very i>romising crop of Maize was just ])eeping through 

 the ground among the old tree stamps. About three more 

 acres had been cut down, and was just being burnt off. The 

 great (lum and Iron-bark trees, which had been prostrated a few 

 weeks before, were flaring up to the sky, and the llamcs, fanned 

 by a stilj evening breeze, were roaring and crackling grandly." 



And while the crops are growing and the wages coming in, 

 " there is any quantity of fish for tho catching, any quantity 

 of walabegs [I wish I knew what these were], kangaroos, opos- 

 sums, ilying squirrels, flying foxes, ducks, turkeys, parrots, 

 and emus for the shooting ; and as to the wood to bum, there 

 is more than enough to supply all the rest of the world, for 

 the cutting, anywhere in the bush." The labourer in the 

 bash will by no means lack company, for he will have " snakes 

 and lizards ; frogs green, white, and blue ; a great variety of 

 butttrllies and moths (the death's-head moth is very common) ; 

 parrots "uy thousands, blue, green, yellow, red, and grey ; and 

 laughing jackasses 'unfortunately not confined to Queensland]. 

 One kind of bird makes a noise like au imgreased wheelbarrow 

 wken it is drawn along. Another is continually saying ' Six 

 o'clock, Jack ! Six o'clock. Jack ! ' Another croaks out as if 

 from down .1 long soi:g!i, 'More pork I More pork'.' Another 

 is continually going ' W-r-r-r-r-r-r-r ! ' Another says, 'WTiip 

 poor Will!' [one would hope interrogatively]. There is one 

 that I call the Jenny Wren. This Httle fellow has a beautiful 

 rich black body coat, his head and tail being of a bright red. 

 They are exceedingly tame, and will come close up to you. 

 They have a sweet, soft, little song, something like the wren at 

 home. Besides these there are the pelican, heron, stork, cor- 

 morant, curlew, wild turkey ; and, above all, there is a little 

 fly called a musquito, that keeps you awake at night, so that j 

 you may hear the cucl;oo singing." And when the tired 

 labourer leaves the bush for his humpy, there beneath its eaves | 

 he may find " the swallow building her nest just as she does in 

 the old country, only our swallows have little russet-coloured 

 heads, and brown and white-speckled backs and wings." 



Ye.^, I am afraid that that " old country," with all its varied 

 associations and memories, now gleaming out of the dim past, 

 now shining with the brilliant light of yesterday, rises up for 

 ever and anon before the emigrant, dimming his eyes with 

 tears, while his strong right hand hews away at the giant trees 

 with '■ vines as thick as my arm, like great ropes, growing 

 straight up from the ground, clinging to the high branches, 

 while funny parasitic jilants trail all over them.' Nor is it the 

 earth alone which reminds him of vanished times ; when his 

 eyes glance upwards in reverent questionings of a still fairer 

 brighter home, the old clinging memories are there also. 

 " I thought." writes one, " when I lost sight of the North 

 Star, and afterwards of the last star in the tail of dear old 

 famili.ir Ursa Major, that I should have to make acquaintanre 

 with new constellations of stars altogether, and lose all tho old 

 ones. Judging of what the others might be by the Southern 

 Cross. I made up my mind not to like them. Imagine my 

 pleasure and suqirise, then, when 1 found that two or three of 

 the constellations had not deserted me. Orion and the Bull 

 still look down upon me, but I feel somewhat sorry to sec them 

 so altered. They gradually changed their position as we came 

 from the Cape of Good Hope ; and now poor Taurus is flat 

 upon his back, and Orion comes up heels first. I cannot hut 

 feel that such treatment of old friends is imwarrantable, and 

 only to be tolerated because one cannot prevent it. However, 

 I would sooner see them heels uppermost than not see them 

 at all, and I therefore take it very kind of them to come out 

 and see me home night after night, especially when they have 

 to appear under such disadvantages." 



How terrible this home sickness is they only who have felt 

 it can tell. The longing that comes to see old familiar places, 

 to hear old familiar voices, with that strangest yearning of all 

 in death — to have our bones laid amidst the graves of our 

 kindred — all these thoughts and longings are unavoidable ene- 

 mies that the dweller in Queensland has to do sore battle with ; 

 but these foes are not so hard to deal with as those that lurk 

 behind an empty cupboard, or tuni a brave man into a coward 

 at the sight of a tax-gatherer. 



The drawbacks to Queensland are floods and drought, yet 

 these are partial ; and by the March mail of this present year 

 an emigrant writes, " The first part of this present summer 

 has been hotter than usiuil, and we are still suffering from 

 drought, but nothing to be alarmed about at present : indeed 

 in some respects the season has been a most favourable one. 

 The vineyards in the Brisbane district were never k-nown to 

 look so well. I was over one at Eedron Brook the other day, 

 from which the proprietor is gathering four tons of Grapes per 

 acre. The Sugar and Cotton crops are both looking remark- 

 ably well." 



Of the beautiful Ferns of Queensland and of the few plants 

 sent to me I have no space to write ; but they deserve special 

 notice and a future paper to themselves should more informa- 

 tion be sent to me. — Devonia. 



HOW TO EN'TRODUCE PLANTS OF THE 



MAXGOSTEEX (G.vucisu jiAN.iosTANA, L.). 



Several articles having lately appeared in The Jocbnal of 

 Horticulture, giving an accouit of the free propagation from 

 cuttings and fruiting of the JIangosteen. it may, therefore, be 

 considered quite unnecessarj' for any person to go to the ex- 

 jiense of importing plants from their native countrj-. Dtiring 

 my long experience I have seen but few plants of it. Some 

 years ago there was a very fine plant ot Kew, and the only 

 place at which one has been known to fruit was at Sion House 

 gardens. It is, therefore, not without a little surjirise that I 

 have seen " J. H.'s " account of his plants, how he strikes them 

 from cuttings, and fruits them. 



Now, without knowing anything of " J. H.," or having even 

 seen his plants, I, nevertheless, unhesitatingly venture to say 

 that the plant he is calling Mangoeteen is not that plant, nor 

 even belongs to the family of Guttifern; ; and I will be safe in 

 saying that no plants of Mangosteen have yet been obtained 

 from cuttings. Cuttings will callus and root, but refuse to grow 

 upwards. Indeed, the whole of the Guttifertp, more especially 

 the large-leaved species, do not propagate from cuttings. A 

 few weeks ago half a dozen plants said to be Mangosteen were 

 advertised for sale, as having come from Singapore. Coming 

 from that country it is reasonable to believe them to be tho 

 true plants ; if so, they are, therefore, with the Sion House 

 plant, the only representatives of this rare fruiting plant known 

 to me in this country at the present time. 



The many inquiries that have been made during the last 

 twenty years al Kew for plants of the Mangosteen, have been 

 a mattir of surprise to me, seeing the facilities that are now 

 afforded by steam navigation for the quick transport of plants 

 from distant countries ; but on account of the trans-shipment 

 and frequent delay at Calcutta, with the hot passage through 

 the Red Sea, considerable expense and risk attend the trans- 

 mission of living plants from the East in Ward's cases. In 

 tho case of the Mangosteen, however. Ward's cases are not 

 necessary, as will be seen by the following successful experi- 

 ment. Some years ago a correspondent at Singapore was re- 

 quested to seud Mangosteen fruit to Kew, which he did by 

 placing a single layer of fruit side by side in a thin wooden 

 box, just sufficiently deep to hold the fruit without any pack- 

 ing. On the box being opened the fruit looked like Apples 

 with the skin a little shrivelled. The inside was still pulpy, 

 and it was fovind that a portion of the seeds had germinated, 

 and in a short time, without disturbing them, the others also 

 gei-minated. By this method I consider Mangosteen plants 

 may be made quite common, or, at least, sufficiently so to 

 supply the demand. I have to remark that the success of this 

 method depends on having only one layer of fmit in a box ; two 

 might succeed, hut any gieat quantity together are liable to 

 ferment and destroy the embryo. 



The ill-success that has hitherto attended the growing of the 

 Jlangosteen is consequent on the too general practice of pot 

 culture. If garden pots were scarce, if our hothouses were 

 adapted to meet such a contingency, and if the nature of the 

 plant were better studied, then hopes might he entertained 

 that dishes of JIangosteens would be seen competing at the 

 fruit exhibitions of the Koyal Horticultural Society. — J. SjtrrH, 

 K-t-Curator, Royal liotanic Garden, Kew. — Park House, Kevc. 



TiiE Seasok fae North. — ^We are infoi-med that even so far 

 north as Stomoway, Primroses and Polyanthuses have been in 

 tlower since December ; Willows in January ; Hazel, in shel. 



