456 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



up with them. Tliere are 160 ramp, and about 

 300 females. Their wool is cerlninlv much finer 

 than any I had seen at JMr. Durand'.-, but gtill 

 there are few of our siiee|)liolders in New South 

 Wales, who could not show finer sheep in iheir 

 flocks than the generality of them. The govern- 

 ment make an annual sale ol" ihese sheep. The 

 minimum price for the rams is 60, and for the 

 ewes 40 Irancs. A very few of ihose ofiii-red some- 

 limes go ofi' at much higher prices, but the de- 

 mand is not nearly sufficient to take off those 

 that are disposable at the minimum price. I saw 

 amongst them a Saxon ram, which had cost the 

 government 600 francs. Running with the rams 

 were a male and two females of the goals of Cash- 

 mere ; the male was a very larire animal, with 

 long white hair; the females under the size of an 

 ordinary goat, but they were both very young, 

 the one being 18 and the other only 7 months old. 

 They breed when under 12 months; the youncr- 

 est ol" the two being expected to produce a kid in 

 lour months. After they are three years old, the 

 shepherd said, (if I understood him riaht, which 

 was no easy matter, from his Catalan dialect,) 

 that they produce four kids annually. The fine 

 Cashmere wool is produced under the hair, and is 

 combed out in the month of May. The Jarge 

 male, they said, yielded fron> five to six ounces, 

 and the females only two ounces a piece. The 

 goverinment, the shepherd informed me, possess 

 150 of these animals, which were formerly all 

 here, but, with the exception of the three which 

 I saw, they were removed to the interior. They 

 were brought from Persia by a (gentleman of Paris, 

 who started with a flock of 1.600, only 1-50 ol 

 which he succeeded in bringing to France. They 

 were purchased by the government at the price 

 of 3,000 francs a head, and their produce were for 

 eome time offered for sale in this department, but 

 found no purchasers. The price I either did not 

 hear, or do not recollect. 



fVednesday, 23f7.— Last evening,at seven o'clock, 

 I took my place in the diligence, the director having 

 freely agreed to take me without any additional 

 charge, and at seven this evening I arrived at 

 JVlontpelier. In going into Beziers about nine 

 o'clock this morning, I observed hoar-fi-ost upon 

 the grass where the sun's rays had not penetrated. 

 The whole country (i-om Beziers to Alontpelier, 

 on both sides of the road, is covered with vine- 

 yards. Between the former town and Penzenas 

 the country is extremely beautiful even at this 

 season. The hills are covered with olive trees, 

 intermixed with vines but the plains with vines 

 only. Detached habitations are every where thick- 

 ly scattered over the country. The vine is culti- 

 vated even in the alluvial plains ; and the immense 

 size of some of the slocks, with the vigor of their 

 numerous shoots, aHbrds ample evidence that 

 whatever may be the quality of its produce, the 

 plant itself is no enemy to a rich soil. Notwith- 

 standing the apparent richnessof the soil, I observ- 

 ed them every where digging in large quantities 

 of dung, and this, as well as the mode'of priming, 

 indicated that ihey were more anxious for the 

 quantity than the quality of the produce. The 

 wines of this district are almost universally convert- 

 ed into brandy. The soil had the appearance of 

 being calcareous the whole way from Beziers to 

 Alontpelier, in some places almost resembling (he 

 ulbarizas of Xere.^j but on trial I found it argilla- 

 ceous. 



Notwithstanding the great luxuriance of the 

 vines, and the strength and length of their shoots, 

 still no supports nor props were used. Here and 

 there I observed the shoots of three neighboring 

 vines tied together to afford each other support ; 

 but even ihi.s practice was rare compared to the 

 whole, which are allowed to spread as they will, 

 and cover the ground in such profusion, as to make 

 it in most places difBcult to penetrate amongst 

 them. 



Thursday, 24th. — I this morning proceeded to 

 the Botanic Garden, in the hope of finding some 

 one who would give me information of the nature 

 I required. My expectations were also a good deal 

 excited by having heard li-om an Englishman 

 whom I met at breakfast, that the professor of 

 botany had there a collection of vines. I was not 

 lonij in discovering this collection, which was num- 

 bered up to 560 varieties. I did not hesitate a mo- 

 ment to inquire for the professor, and to make 

 known to him the object of my visit. He received 

 me with great kindness, and acked many ques- 

 tions respecting the Australian settlements, in 

 which he appeared to take a great deal of inte- 

 rest. He conducted me over the gardens, and 

 through the conservatories, pointing out every ob- 

 ject which he thought would interest me. The 

 latter are very extensive, and in the most perfect 

 order. Among other plan's he made me remark 

 the Galadodeiidron, the " tree of the cow, or milk 

 tree," of Humboldt, which he said would undoubt- 

 edly grow in New South Wales. He also pointed 

 out, growing in the open air, the Caroubier of 

 Spain, the Ceratonia Siliqua of Linnteus, that 

 yields a pod, upon which the mules are almost 

 exclusively fed in the mountainous districts of 

 Spain, and the south of Italy. This tree I had 

 not so much as heard of There was a small de- 

 partment separate for New So\ith Wales plants, 

 of which there was a considerable number. Fi- 

 nally, Prof(3ssor Delisle told me, that I was not 

 only welcome to cuttings of all the vines he had, 

 but he offered me his correspondence for any thing 

 he could in future supply. He also said he would 

 make up a packet of seeds for our Botanic Gar- 

 den. In return for such liberality, I did not hesi- 

 tate to pledge myself to make him whatever 

 returns our Botanic Garden could supply. He 

 accordingly called for the catalogue of vines, 

 which was partly printed, being a copy of the list 

 of the Ecnh of vines established in the gardens of 

 the Luxemburg, at Paris, by Messrs. Chaptal and 

 Bosc, when ihe former was Minster of the Inte- 

 rior. A great proportion of the numbers which 

 had been left blank in the original, were filled up in 

 writing. He gave directions that a copy of the 

 list should be prepared for me, and that a man 

 should attend me to take cuttings of the vines. 

 I determined to take a duplicate of each variety. 



Saturday, 26th November. — Having ordered a 

 quantity of leaden tickets to m.ark the cuttings, 

 and a couple of cases to contain them, I proceeded 

 to the garden yesterday morning, and found that 

 the man had already commenced to take off the 

 cuttings. On examining those he had taken, 

 however, I immediately saw the necessity of mak- 

 ing the choice lor myself, and I have accordingly 

 been engaged all yesterday and to-day in choos- 

 ing the cuttings. This evening, by the assistance 

 of a second man, who dressed the cuttings as they 

 were taken off, we had finished this part of the 

 task, and commenced attaching the numbers. 



