I 7 8 



ground from the encroachment of the indigenous trees. Their argu- 

 ment is that unless the work of eradicating the eucalypti is done 

 thoroughly it is better left alone. 



To see the Midland district it would be necessary to traverse it, 

 first, along the old road between Perth and the Irwin river, and then 

 make a tour along the railway line, and break the journey in order 

 to diverge to the east and west from the principal stations. The 

 road runs near the coast, and is a very heavy sandy track, while the 

 railway is laid very much to the eastward of what maybe considered 

 the arable tract of the Midland district, for the greater part of its 

 length. Looking at the course of the road and the railway on the 

 map, an outline is formed by them that somewhat resembles that of an 

 elongated egg ; that is to say, they are close together at the commen- 

 cing and terminal points, after making a tolerably wide cir- 

 cuit outwards, the widest portion of the detour being in each case 

 in the middle of the course. The reason why this divergence is 

 emphasised is that there is a marked difference in the charac- 

 teristics of the country passed through near the sea and more 

 inland, that the traveller who had been over the road, or the railway 

 only, would give entirely different descriptions of their observations. 

 Taking the road route first, we follow the course of the Gingin 

 creek in a westerly direction, through a number of small but flourish- 

 ing holdings devoted to mixed farming, to the junction of the creek 

 with the Moore river. Along the banks of the creek the land is 

 excellent ; it is red gum country, and has a chocolate soil varied with 

 patches of limestone that carries a thick swath of grass, or when 

 tilled produces heavy crops of cereals, but this kind of land is very 

 limited in extent. Along the creek every farmer has some orange 

 trees planted ; the waiter of the stream is so fresh and beneficial to 

 vegetation being free from the slightest mineral ingredient that 

 it is very stimulating to the growth of the trees. A very slight 

 appearance of black scale is the only approach to disease that the 

 citrus tribe has ever been known to suffer from in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gingin. " But take them all round," says an informant, who 

 has lived from boyhood in the district, "and they are as clean oranges, 

 and as choice in every respect, as any that are grown in the world." 

 The Gingin brook has its source in the Cheriton estate, and 

 oranges and lemons are grown the whole way down to the Moore 

 rivei-, which in the summer loses itself before it meets the creek 

 which Hows into the Indian ocean. So long as the orange- are 

 planted close enough to the brook to get the advantage of the narrow 

 fringe of alluvial that margins the water, they "grow without any 

 trouble- at all." Outside the limestone formation, red gum patches, 

 interspersing the sandy banksia country thai is not much good for 

 anything, and which it is very fatiguing for the horses to pnll even a 

 light vehirle over this apology for a road, arc- passed through. 

 If the scrub is burned regnlarly'the banksia country will sustain, but 

 will not fatten stock. All the good land near the creek is in the 



