202 

 CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION. 



The Argan is a hardy tree and will adopt itself to a somewhat wide 

 range of climate or soil, and may be grown with more or less success in 

 any district where there is little or no trouble from frosts. It is a tree 

 specially well adapted for the warm interior districts of Queensland and 

 Western Australia, and would prove very serviceable to the owners 

 of stock. Probably if this tree were acclimatised in congenial regions it 

 would increase naturally and spread over large areas. As an ornamental 

 tree the Argan is worthy of cultivation, and in dry districts it might 

 advantageously be grown for shade. The trees should be planted in well 

 prepared ground, at such distances apart as will allow ample room for 

 free development. Propagation may be effected by seed, suckers, layers, 

 and cuttings. Seed should be sown soon after it is ripe, covering it an 

 inch and a half deep. When the young seedlings are large enough to 

 handle, transplant into small beds, leaving them about six inches apart. 

 The following season they may be planted out. Suckers from the roots 

 make very good plants if taken off carefully in early spring or autumn. 

 Plants are readily raised trom layers, which should be put down either in 

 the spring or autumn. Cuttings of the current seasons' s wood, when 

 fairly ripened, will strike in sand or light soil. 



AUSTRALIAN APPLE. 



Australia is not rich in native fruits, and the great majority of such as 

 are edible are so inferior as compared with exotic kinds that have been 

 introduced, that they are not worth cultivating, except as ornamental 

 plants. There are two or three exceptions, and it is possible that some 

 kinds now worthless for their fruit, may in time be improved by cultiva- 

 tion. But though of but little commercial value, the writer is of opinion 

 that his work would be incomplete without referring to indigenous 

 fruits. The fruits of many species are known under vernacular names, 

 which have been given from some real or fancied resemblance to well- 

 known exotic kinds, though they may belong to very different families. 

 These are dealt with by the writer in this portion of his work. Another 

 class are merely indigenous species of fruits that are cultivated, and these 

 are placed with the families they belong to. 



The fruit known in some of its native localities as the Australian 

 Apple is yielded by a tall evergreen tree known botanically as Achras 

 australis (Sideroxylon australe of some botanists). It belongs to the 

 natural order Sapotaceae and is indigenous to Eastern Queensland and the 

 northern coast rivers of New South Wales. The fruit is similar in 

 appearance to a moderate-sized plum, and the flesh is succulent, though 

 somewhat harsh. In many localities the fruit is better known as the 

 Native Plum. The tree when growing under favourable conditions 

 will attain a height of forty or fifty feet, but in poor soils it becomes 

 stunted. It is an ornamental tree, and is worthy of a place in the 



