496 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 



dry westerly winds are sufficiently injurious to animal life to 

 call for attention in many details. Our cattle find sufficient 

 protection in the timber to carry them through the severities of 

 the seasons, and it is found that towns largely planted with pines 

 and other trees have the aridity of the air moderated to an appre- 

 ciable extent. The planting by Bai-on von Mueller of Conifers 

 and Eucalypts, in the City of Melbourne, is a monument to the 

 foi'esiglit of that great botanist. Dr. Schomburgh makes a park 

 round the City of Adelaide, and one sees in the gardens of Sydney 

 what embellishments nature has in store for those who love her. 

 Sanitary science has, however, not much power in rectifying the 

 severity of climate ; it can, however, point out healthy sites for 

 houses, and those who have suffered from the hardships incident 

 to the inland plains and areas, will find on the eastern sea-board a 

 climate and surroundings more in accordance with what nature 

 demands. Where do we see more lovely sea-coast than in the 

 journey by steamboat from Sydney to Brisbane ? A region of little 

 hills and valleys on the shores of the Pacific with its ever-varying 

 breezes ; with abundance of fish ready for catching ; and a reliable 

 rainfall for the cultivation of the vine and orange, only requiring 

 the iron-horse to open it up to the toilers in our crowded cities. 

 Sanitary text-books tell us much of how to live in towns, of 

 albuminoid ammonia in our drinking water, and defects in the 

 construction of soil pipes by which typhoid fever has spread from 

 drains to dwellings. 



Let us leave these for a period and speak of our houses in the 

 country. What considerations will helper us in determining a 

 favourable site for building upon 1 The eastern and western slopes 

 have a different appearance from each other. In timbered country 

 there is abundance of shrubbery where the morning sun shines on 

 the opposite side of the hill ; the Eucalypts are gaunt, naked, tall 

 and straight, with no undergrowth. A house built on the eastern 

 aspect below the crest of the ridges escapes the severity of the 

 westerly wind. We notice on driving in the evenings how cold 

 the air strikes our face in crossing the swampy valley, and how 

 warm it feels on ascending the rising ground. The cattle do not 

 camp here during the winter nights, but get on the higher land. 

 We should leave some gum trees near our house, the flowers of 

 which will attract flocks of paroquets. The incessant twirtering 

 of these honey-seekers will make the place lively, and the wise 

 ta^k of the friar-bird will amuse, if it fail to instruct us. It may 

 not be advisable to dig or dung gardens near our doors, but rather 

 to have grassy lawns, on which our tame cows can feed, the scythe 

 being occasionally used to reduce any herbage growing too rank. 

 It will be necessary to have some underground pipes laid to drain 

 the land and carry our kitchen water down the ridge. On this 

 drain of slop-water we can plant vines, and with posts and wire 

 construct a shady avenue which will lead to our garden on the 



