204 RELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



Company), I brought with me a case of vines and figs, and some 

 seeds from tlie Society, as well as a large supply of fruit trees 

 and garden seeds which I procured from nurserymen and from 

 my own gardens ; but, unfortunately, from their getting wetted 

 in landing and the difficulties incident on the ft)rmation of a first 

 settlement, I preserved only a limited part of them. I could 

 only plant and sow them in sand near the coast, and before we 

 had manure or could bring the fertile soil into cultivation ; and, 

 of course, under such circumstances, few of the fruit trees were 

 preserved. I soon, however, brought the sand of which my 

 first garden consisted into fine cultivation, and it is impossible 

 to describe too highly its productiveness and the superior 

 qualities of the vegetables it produces. I have since, at a farm 

 which I have formed on the banks of the Brunswick, a small 

 stream running from the Darling Range to Leschenault Inlet 

 (about five miles from hence), formed two other gardens, one in 

 alluvial soil on the flats of the river, and the other upon upland 

 of a loamy character above the flats, in which the vine, olive, 

 banana, and every European fruit tree and vegetable thrive with 

 the utmost luxuriance. 



I should inform you that, although we are in 33° S. latitude, 

 the heat is not greater than in 45° N. latitude. Our climate 

 is perfection : in the summer, which I may say lasts from Oc- 

 tober to April, we have land and sea breezes, which entirely 

 temper the heat ; the nights are scarcely ever hot, and even in 

 those months we are seldom more than three or four weeks 

 without beautiful soft rain. In the winter months the weather 

 between the intervals of gales and rain is most exquisite, and, 

 in fact, is never really bad for three days together. This year 

 we have had more rain than usual, but the season has been most 

 deliglitful for agricultural and horticultural purposes. (The 

 rain that has fallen in the present year amounts to 28 inches in 

 perpendicular depth to this time ; 1 think about 25 may be the 

 average.) With such a climate, you may well suppose that 

 kitchen gardening may be carried to the utmost perfection ; and, 

 having all my life taken great delight in it, I here enjoy it to 

 the full. I regularly get two crops, and in some instances three 

 crops, off every inch of my gardens. My peas and lettuces, 

 turnips, carrots, and cabbages surpass what I ever saw in Eng- 

 land or France ; my onions last year weighed 17 oz. each, and 

 cucumbers, melons, water-melons, and vegetable-marrow I have 

 actually in cart-loads from December to April. We sow po- 

 tatoes in February and March, before the rains commence, dig 

 them in June, sow again (old seed) in July during the rains, 

 and dig in October and November, and sow again in swampy 

 land in November, December, and January, and dig in February 

 and March. 



