97 



is better than the inspection of plants growing upon it. This 

 may he, liowever, a veiy fallacious method of ascertaining the 

 capahility of any soil, — unless, indeed, you actually analyse 

 it, — which it would be a difficult and troublesome thin^:^ to do 

 durin«jf the exploration of new countiy ; and I should, there- 

 fore, strongly advise the adoption of the plan which I am 

 recommending, — for this reason, among others, that the 

 growth of certain wild plants uj^on any soil is equivalent, for 

 practical purposes, to an analysis of such soil. It would, 

 nevertheless, be most interesting and useful to obtain a 

 thorough analysis of the most common and widely-diffused 

 soils, together with a collection of specimens of the character- 

 istic plants of each soil ; for the conclusions drawn from 

 experience could thus be corrected or confirmed, and we should 

 have an excellent means of ascertaining the value of our lands. 



The first thing to be done is to find out, as correctly as 

 possible, what wild plants are characteristic of land fit for 

 agricultui-e or pasture, or worthless for such purposes. 



Of course, it does not follow that land is entirely worthless 

 which is unfit for pasture or agriculture ; for excellent timber 

 both for splitting and sawing, is often found on such lands ; 

 and it may turn out that other plants which flourish upon it 

 possess a value, for the arts or for manufacturing purposes, 

 with which we are at present unacquainted. 



It will be found, in practice, most easy to predicate of land 

 that it is fit for agriculture or pasture, by the absence of plants 

 peculiar to land of an inferior description. I will, therefore, 

 point out, in the first place, the plants which appear to me to 

 be characteristic of land which is unfit for agriculture or 

 pasture, taking the better kinds of land afterwards. 



BAD LAND. 



Native Hop or Bitterleaf (Baviesia latifolia, Br .J A dark- 

 green shrub, 3 to 6 feet high, with rather wide, pointed, very 

 bitter leaves, 1 to 3 inches long, and racemes of small reddish- 

 orange pea-flowers. 



DwAEF Cheeet Teee (Exocarpus stricta, Br.) With 

 leaves like those of the Native Cherry Tree, but never grow- 

 ing larger than a shrub. The fruit is usually white, or of a 

 light color. 



Wire Scrub (Bauera ruhioides, Andr.) A shrub 6 to 12 

 feet high, with wiry entangled branches, small leaves, and 

 white or pink flowers, growing singly on stalks springing from 

 the axils of the branchlets. 



Epacris or Heath (Bpacris impressa, Lab.) The varieties 

 with red, white, or pink flowers, are well known. 



Heathy Whitebeard (Leucopogon ericoides, Br.) A small 

 plant, with leaves about half an inch long, rounded at the top, 

 with a projecting sharp point, and a profusion of spikes of 

 small, white, feathery flowers. 



Myrtle-leaved Acacia (Acacia myrtifolia^ Willd.) A 

 small Acacia, 2 to 3 feet high, with leaves (johyllodia) 1 to 2 

 inches long, iu form like those of the Myrtle. 



