supplement. HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 1291 



rity for a single night. "Thus," concludes Mr. Carey, " one of the finest countries in the world, com- 

 prising almost every variety of climate and situation, diversified by hills and valleys, intersected in every 

 part by streams (most of which are navigable six months in the year, and some of them through the 

 whole year afford every facility for carrying manure to the land, and every part of the produce to mar- 

 ket), is, as far as respects its agricultural interests, in a state the most abject and degraded." (p. 10.) This 

 is a most forbidding picture ; but it is incident to all countries in a particular stage of their progress in 

 civilisation. Time was when the low districts of England were ravaged by the wolves and bea'rs from 

 the mountain forests, and when the crops on the alluvial vales of her rivers were annually swept away, 

 or at least greatly injured, by floods. As to oppression by superiors, and thieving from others, there 

 will always be abundance of such evils, till mankind are brought to something like equalisation in point 

 of knowledge, and consequently power ; till, in short, the mass of society become tit lor self-govern- 

 ment. (Trans. Agr. Soc. of India.) The potato has at length been effectually introduced into India, 

 and as good potatoes are to be had in Calcutta as in London. Baron Hiigel introduced them into Cash- 

 mere and Little Tibet. (G. C. 1*42, p. 607.) A copious account of the agriculture of Hindostan, will 

 be found in the Q. J A., vols. viii. ix. x. xi.) 



Australia. 



8038 1037. The whole territory of New South Wales, Dr. Lang, writing in 1834, informs us, "is 



divided, like that of Great Britain, into counties and parishes ; but these divisions are scarcely ever 

 referred to in the common intercourse of colonial life. Hxcept in government deeds or legal docu- 

 ments, the grand natural divisions of the country are the only ones recognised by the colonists." 

 These divisions are the districts of the Hawkesbuvy, of Hunter's River, of Bathurst, of lllawarra, and 

 of Argyle. The district of the Hawkesbury, which is let out in small farms of from 30 to 100 acres each, 

 has been long considered the granary of the colony, from the extreme fertility of its soil, though the 

 system of agriculture practised in it is as slovenly as can be well imagined The surface of the ground 

 is " for the most part merely scratched ; and nothing like a proper rotation of crops is ever dreamt of. 

 Wheat, year after year, for twenty years together, and sometimes wheat and maize in succession oft 

 the same ground, "during the same year, is the Sangrado system of husbandry that prevails on the 

 Hawkesbury." The district of the Hunter's River is let out in farms of from 500 to 2000 acres each. 

 " Dairies are frequent throughout this extensive district ; and large quantities of butter and cheese, 

 of superior quality, are forwarded regularly by the steam-boats to Sidney." The vast plains of the 

 Bathurst are chiefly tenanted by black cattle and sheep, and the farms are generally 2000 acres each. 

 This may be considered the wool district. The cultivated land of the Argyle district is almost all 

 in pasture, but there are interspersed extensive tracts of the most barren country imaginable. The 

 district of the lllawarra consists of a narrow strip of arable land of the first quality, let out to " small 

 settlers, who cultivate grain, potatoes, pumpkins, &c. for the Sydney market, their produce being con- 

 veyed to the capital by water in small coasting vessels." This is also the timber district, great numbers 

 of the red and white cedar trees growing here, and that wood being generally used for cabinet and 

 joinery work all over the colony. Besides these, there are several large tracts of pastoral and alluvial 

 land, which cannot be properly classed in any of the above-named districts; and a very great extent of 

 country remains unexplored. The rich alluvial land on the banks of rivers is called interval land. 

 It is very productive, but is difficult to clear. Norfolk Island has a soil of the richest vegetable mould, 

 even to "the tops of the highest hills, and appears well adapted for the culture of coffee, if not sugar. It 

 is now (1834) occupied as a penal settlement for the colony of New South Wales. (Dr. Lang's Historical 

 and Statistical Account of Hew South Wales, vol. i.) 



8039. General aspect ol the country. The principal town, Sydney, is beautifully situated on Sydney- 

 Cove, one of the romantic inlets of Port Jackson, about seven miles from the entrance of that har- 

 bour, the headlands at the mouth of which constitute one of the grandest and most interesting fea- 

 tures in the natural scenery of the country. .Many of the most interesting localities on the shores of 

 Port Jackson, between Sydney and the headlands, are in the hands of private proprietors. On Woolloo- 

 moolloo Hill (Jig. 1141.), which is an elevated projection of the land, about a mile from Sydney, most 

 of the officers of the colony have houses. The second town of the colony is at present Paramatta ; 

 but Maitland will, probably, soon supersede it, as the latter place is situated at the head of Hunter's 

 River, in the centre of the most extensive agricultural and grazing district in the colony. Between 

 Sydney and Maitland there are two steam-boats, and a company has lately been formed, called " The 

 Hunter River Steam Navigation Company." With the exception of the large open plains in the in- 

 terior of the country, the territory of New South Wales is, in its natural state, one vast forest. On 

 the banks of the rivers, and especially on the alluvial land within the reach of their inundations, this 

 forest becomes what the colonists call a'thick brush or jungle. Immense trees of the genus Eucalyptus, 

 such as the stringy bark, the Blue gum, E. piperata, and the Iron bark, E. resim'fera, tower upwards 

 in every direction", to the height of ISO or 200 feet ; while the cedar, and other trees of inferior eleva- 

 tion, with innumerable wild vines and other parasitical plants, fill up the interstices. In tbe sterile 

 region, the trees are stunted in their growth, and of a most forbidding aspect ; their trunks and naked 

 biaiuhes being frequently blackened by the action of fire, as in the Eucalyptus. The soil of these 

 regions is a white sand, and nothing can exceed the loneliness and desolation of the scene. (Ibid.) 



8040. The sell ted portion of New South Wales, in 1833, Sturt tells us, extended from the 36th to the 

 32d parallel of latitude. The population of the colony is said to consist of 45.000 free settlers, and 

 25,000 convicts. It- imports, in the year ending January, 1833, amounted to 602,032/., of which 144,7934 

 vi i- the value of commodities imported from loreign states, the rest being the produce of Great Bri- 

 tain, and her colonies. The exports amounted to 384,344/-, of which 81 ,969/. consisted of British and 

 foreign merchandise re-exported, and the remainder was the produce of the colony, the New Zealand 

 fisheries, and the South Sea Islands. The chief articles of export, which were shipped to the mothei 



country, were: New Zealand flax. 806 tons, value 15,303/. ; sperm and black oil, 3186 tons, value 



142 .921"/. ; and wool, 1,515,150 lbs , value 73,559/. In 1831, no less than 150 vessels entered the harbour 

 of Port Jackson from foreign ports, the amount of their tonnage being 31,259 tons. (Start's Expe- 

 dition into the Interior of Australia.) 



soil. 1038. The mineral productions. Marble of a good quality, and which takes a beautiful polish, has 



been obtained in Argyle. In one part of its course, Hunter's River flows for a considerable distance over 

 rocks of jasper : and beautiful agates, opal, and chalcedony, besides innumerable petrifactions, are found 

 on its banks. (Hist, and Statist. Account, Sfc.) 



8C42 1040. Natural productions of New Holland. A peculiar character is given to the woods of the 



extratropieal parts of New Holland, and to the woods of Van Diemen's Land, by the species ol trees of 

 the order Vrotedceie. These are numerous, and the leaves of the generality of them have a vertical 

 position. and a similar aspect on both surfaces. These surfaces, a close inspection tea. lies, are distributed, 

 by a reticulation of the fine veins of the leaf, into numerous small compartments or areolations, within 

 each of which, on one face ol the leaf, and very generally on both faces, is lodged a minute gland. (See 

 Brown's Supp. prim. Flor. New Ho/l.) 



8043. The vegetable productions of New Ho/land. Some of the most common trees in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sydney are several of the different kinds of Eucalyptus ; what is there generally called the 

 honey-suckle (Banks/a integrifolia), the apple tree (Angophora lanceolata), the forest oak (Casuarlna 

 torulosa). and the grass tree (Xanthorrhre'a arborescens). The last is particularly beautiful. There are 

 also the hroom (Jacksonta scoparia). which is called the dogwood at Port Jackson, and the wood oi 

 which is very difficult to burn, and the tea tree (Melaleuca linariwfolia). The name of tea tree is, 6 iveu 



