452 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



horses so tied, tending to keep the cow in the middle of the stall. She eat* 

 out of a trough, which is supplied from a broad passage in front of th<- 

 heads ; and there is also a broad passage behind the gutter. The points ol 

 the cows* tails are all tied to the ceiling or roof, to prevent them from 

 dropping into the gutter when the cow lies down, or from whisking about 

 while the operation of milking is going forward. They are combed, brushed, 

 and kept covered with a cloth during winter; and in spring, when they arc 

 first allowed to go out and graze, they are clothed with a sheet till the 

 weather becomes decidedly warm. (See Encyc. of Agr. t § 516.) 



Mr. Knight found forcing going forward in the manner which is practised 

 at Hylands ; raspberries ripe, and cauliflowers cut, about the middle of 

 April. He was much taken with the standard fruit-trees, generally trained 

 in pyramidal form ; and with curious dwarfs, some of them saucer-shaped, 

 10 ft. diameter, and not more than 3 ft high : others in the form of a bowl ; 

 others with a stem 1 ft. high, with only two branches proceeding from it, 

 perfectly horizontal in position, and in opposite directions, with shoots 

 covered with spurs rising perpendicularly from these two horizontal 

 branches, at equal distances; those in the centre, 3 ft. high, gradually di- 

 minishing to 1 ft. at the extremities, and having, altogether, a strangely 

 artificial appearance. These trees occur now and then in pleasure-grounds 

 as odd ornaments. 



New South Wales.— The culture of the tobacco plant has answered every 

 expectation; 30 tons of it, as much or more than all the settlers have grown 

 in any former year, have been produced by five estates alone. There is, 

 therefore, a prospect that, in a few years, shiploads of it may be despatched 

 to England for manufacture, provided the British markets afford a remu- 

 nerating price. A skilful planter is reviving the growth of the sugar-cane 

 on the river Manning. The growth of the opium poppy is more exuberant 

 than in many countries ; and the quality of the opium made from it invites 

 its more general cultivation. It is but a faw years since the olive tree was 

 introduced in the colony; and the rapidity of its growth, together with its 

 excessive fruitfulness, shows that the soil and climate are particularly fa- 

 vourable to it. Every year's experience tends to the belief that the vine 

 will one day become an important plant in the colony. The variety of the 

 European grapes, and the perfection which they attain, hold out a promise 

 that wine will hereafter become the most important export of Astralia. 

 Had the settlers been brought up in climates where the vine and olive ate 

 cultivated, wine and oil would long ago have been among the exports of 

 the colony. 



The foliage has been represented as very, nay, preposterously ugly : and 

 so, indeed, it is; though the fault does not rest with the nature of the 

 foliage, but in the circumstance that our timber is not only all primeval, but 

 the natives are accustomed to set it on fire, for the purpose of attracting 

 the kangaroos when the new grass springs up : so that you may imagine 

 that forests, presenting an assemblage of burnt and dead trees of the most 

 awkward and fantastic shapes, mixed with and rising above more youthful 

 foliage, cannot be very picturesque, but rather grotesque. This is the 

 general appearance of all the forests at present ; and, until the whole face 

 of the country undergoes the renovation of settlers, it must continue so. 

 But, far from being ugly, the foliage is really beautiful, Nothing can be 

 more so than the young gum trees, with large leaves ; they have a good deal 

 the character of the bird), and the leaves, hanging at an angle to catch the 

 sun's ravs, glitter splendidly. The swamp oak (Casuarina stricta ?), tea 

 tree (Thea viridis, £.), apple tree, &c. &c. are all of them excellent varie- 

 ties; and I have seen spots that were cleared on the first establishment of 

 the colony, and that are now wooded, present as beautiful masses of foliage 

 as you would wish to behold. Then we have the fan or cabbage palm, the 

 burwan, the grass tree, and the fern tree, all of them the most beautiful 

 things in nature; the wide-spreading fig-tree, seemingly a species of man- 

 prove; and vines that would induce you to believe that you were contem- 

 plating the famous banyan of India : we have all these to add variety to our 

 endless forests.— (Gardener's Magazine.) 



Plants of interest and importance to this Colony, noticed in the English 

 lournals. * (From the Gardener's Magazine. J— Locculir palmatu^ ; thocia 



