WATTLES AND WATTLE-BARKS. 25 



of winter for sowing), and I will, in due time, let you know the result. I 

 had, some three or four years ago, an idea of going in for wattle cultivation, 

 and with that intention I fenced off a paddock of about 50 acres, but found 

 the cost of clearing too great, so I let the matter drop ; but I am still of 

 opinion that there is some of the most suitable soil in the colony for 

 wattles, if we only knew the right kind to go in for." (5). 



1. This is a local consideration which will apply to preparing the land for 

 any crop. A wattle crop is remunerative, but to what extent it can stand 

 being debited with expensive clearing is a matter for decision in each separate 

 case. 



2. Wattles are protected from fire by fire-breaks, and also by removing 

 inflammable rubbish from amongst them. At the same time, the finely 

 divided foliage of Acacia decurrens makes it the most susceptible of the 

 commercial wattles to destruction by fire. Acacia pycnantha and A.penninervis 

 are much less liable to this danger. 



3. This is a statement intended to indicate that a particular soil can be 

 hardly too poor to grow wattles, and it may be taken literally also. The 

 matter has been dealt with already, but I may quote the following extract 

 from the evidence of the late Mr. W. Ferguson before the Victorian Royal 

 Commission on Vegetable Products : " Now I consider that any man who 

 has a desert of poor land, which would not grow anything else that would 

 not grow cereals could not put it in to anything better than a crop of 

 wattles, if he attends to it properly." The Murray desert is a case in point. 



Straggling grass is undoubtedly a danger to a wattle plantation, but it 

 will always pay to keep it in check. 



4. There are few districts in the Colony which are too cold for the growth 

 of the best wattles. Having decided on the proper wattle, seed should be 

 obtained from a district approximately similar in climatic conditions, and 

 well matured. 



5. I trust that this objection has now no weight in it. 



EXTRACTS. 



" The first shipment of tanning material was made from Sydney to England 

 as far back as 1823, in the shape of an extract of the bark of two species of 

 mimosa (Acacia), which was readily purchased by the tanners at the rate of 

 50 per ton. One ton of bark had produced 4 cwt. of extract of the con- 

 sistency of tar." 



