Vol. XXVII, 



191 1 



1 ArnAS, Wanderings in East Gippsland. 165 



The swollen and miuldy waters oi" the Thoinsou Kixcr, near 

 Rosedale, l)et()kene(l the thawniig of the winter's snow on the 

 mountains. Thence, to Sale, we passed through a stretch of 

 fiat country, covered with liuge Red Gum trees, former monarchs 

 of the forest, but now lifeless — rung by the merciless axe of 

 the settler — a somewhat dreary scene, broken only by an 

 occasional sheoak, Casuarina quadrivalois, and enlivened by 

 flocks of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, screeching among the limbs 

 high overhead. 



Between Munro and Fernbank we passed through another 

 heathy stretch, and I was pleased to observe quite a number 

 of early plants in bloom, such as Hihhertia fascic2ilata, H. stricta, 

 H. difiitsa, Bossicpa cinerea, Pimelea hiimilis, Kennedya pjos- 

 trata ; the Epacrids Leucopogon {StypJielia) virgatus and S. 

 ericoides ; the Wild Lilac, Indigofera australis ; and the red 

 variety of the so-called " Native Fuchsia," Correa spcciosa — the 

 two latter being particularly fine. Near Fernbank there is an 

 extensive apiary, and, from the nature of the surrounding 

 country, I should consider the situation an ideal one. 



Bairnsdale, 170 miles from town, is prettily situated on the 

 ^Mitchell River, whose rich flats were formerly almost entirely 

 devoted to the cultivation of hops, but which of late years have 

 been replaced by the more profitable crops of maize and chicory. 

 The cultivation of the latter is very interesting, and, to collect 

 information regarding it, I visited an extensive plantation 

 (owned by a progressive Chinese), on which Australians and 

 Chinese work side by side. The seed is planted in drills one foot 

 apart, and the plants thinned out to about six inches from each 

 other. When it blooms the flowers are pinched off to force the 

 growth of the roots, which, when matured, are dug up by 

 running a light plough- furrow along each row. This process 

 exposes the roots, which are similar to mangels, and very brittle. 

 They are then chopped off by hand hoeing, the foliage slashed 

 off, roots placed in sacks by little children at the rate of 3d. 

 per bag, and taken to the river to be washed. Here they are 

 tipped down a shoot to a large box-like enclosure in the river, 

 where men wash them and pitchfork them back to the bank, 

 where they are again placed in the sacks and carted to the 

 roasting kilns. They are then cut up by machinery at the rate 

 of one hundred bags per hour, and drawn by an elevator to the 

 roasting kilns. The raw material, w^hen roasted, is reduced to 

 a quarter of the bulk. It is then re-bagged and sent to Mel- 

 bourne, where a ready sale is aUvays obtainable, the price being 

 about £16 I OS. per ton, but w^hen refined it is worth £2'^ 

 or upwards. An average crop is worth about -fgo per acre. 



My next wandering was directed towards Buchan, with the 

 intention of viewing the famous caves. To reach there I 



