WATTLES AND WATTLE-BARKS. 19 



(k.) ADULTERATIONS OH SUBSTITUTIONS. 



Good wattle-bark is sometimes mixed with inferior, and this admixture 

 may be either intentional or accidental. " Blue bush " bark {Acacia ~brachy- 

 botrya, page 45), for instance, is sometimes chopped up to adulterate 

 pycnantlia bark. Silver wattle bark (dealbata) is occasionally so like green 

 or black wattle bark (decurrens), that it would deceive an expert, particu- 

 larly if chopped, and while the two barks can be instantly separated, 

 as a rule, I can readily understand some specimens of silver wattle bark 

 inadvertently mixed with bark of better quality, and passing muster. 

 The subject is a wide one, and these few notes are simply intended to 

 warn the unwary. 



Profits and Loss and Minor Industries. 



PftOEITS TO EE DERIVED EEOM WATTLE 

 CULTIVATION. 



Wattle cultivation is in its infancy, and, as far as I know, no wattle- 

 grower has favoured the world with a peep at the item ""Wattle Cultivation" 

 in his ledger. We are, therefore, chiefly dependent on estimates in lieu of 

 statements of results attained, but those which follow are as trustworthy as 

 can be supplied. Wattle conservation and cultivation have been little taken 

 up in our own Colony, but we are already taking steps to remedy this. 



Following are the opinions of gentlemen in the several colonies on the 

 prospect of profit in wattle-planting. They are culled from the reports of 

 the Victorian Koyal Commission on Vegetable Products : 



New South Wales. Mr. Charles Moore, F.L.S., Director of the Botanic 

 G-ardens, Sydney, " They are a very profitable crop indeed." 



Tasmania. Mr. F. Abbott, Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Hobart, "I 

 have not the shadow of a doubt that they are a valuable crop to 

 any farmer ; they come on in a very short period, and there i 

 always a revenue from them." 



South Australia. Mr. J. E. Brown, F.L.S., when Conservator of Forests, 

 Adelaide, " With regard, however, to the wattles, there can be 

 but one opinion as to their cultivation being the means of a large 

 and most valuable source of revenue both to individuals and to the 

 State." 



