^?3'] Williamson, Botanical Notes of a Trip to Mildura. 



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not far away, in a creek, we found Polygonum plehejum, Small 

 Knotweed — a creeping plant resembling the common wire- 

 weed, P. aviculare. 



Wishing to see Wentworth, and knowing that the rain had 

 made some parts of the road almost impassable for a bicycle, 

 I took the coach on the Wednesday for that town, which is 

 situated about i8 miles from Mildura. The punt is reached 

 in about 14 miles, after passing through some interesting 

 vegetation near Merbein. This I determined to investigate the 

 next day. Two introduced plants were much in evidence — 

 Inula graveolens, Stinkwort, and Nicotiana glaitca, Tree 

 Tobacco, the former appearing only as dried remains of last 

 year's plants, the latter being sparingly in bloom. Both these 

 plants cover a large extent of land. The Tree Tobacco formed 

 in places a thick scrub for hundreds of yards along the track, 

 and little else was seen amongst it. The coach-driver told me 

 that this useless weed covered hundreds of acres on both sides 

 of the Murray. Just after leaving the punt is seen a pumping 

 plant, erected by the New South Wales Government for 

 irrigating the holdings taken up in the locality. It is worked 

 by a suction-gas plant, supplied with charcoal from furnaces or 

 retorts a short distance away. 



For two miles the track led through a forest of small timber, 

 apparently Eucalyptus bicolor and E. hemiphloia. These trees, 

 and the Eucalyptus rostrafa of the river flats, no doubt 

 yielded good bee-forage, as was suggested by a small bee farm 

 we passed on our way. After that the track led over an 

 alluvial plain of whitish clay soil, very muddy on account of 

 recent rains, and scantily covered with salt-bush and a few 

 eucalypts. Some dark green bushes, like Salicornia abusctda, 

 I determined to investigate on my way back, as I suspected 

 they were Pachycornia robusta, Desert Glasswort. 



The coach crossed a fine bridge over the Darhng, and we 

 were in Wentworth, a town that one soon perceives to be an 

 " old-timer." The bridge has a central section, which can be 

 raised horizontally to allow steamers to pass under. What a 

 contrast the town presented to the self-contained, busy, up-to- 

 date Mildura ! It seemed to exist for the coaches — and there 

 are many — that pass through from Renmark, Menindie, Euston, 

 Balranald, and other towns. I could see no signs of industry 

 — no farms, orchards, or factories. A large, factory-like 

 building on the outskirts was pointed out to me as the gaol ! 

 Wentworth seems just a convenient emporium for goods for 

 the surrounding sheep stations, and employes on these 

 stations, I expect, have their homes here, where their famihes 

 can have the advantages of town life, and where their children 

 can attend school. I visited the public school, which was at 



