FRUITS OF QUEEXSLAXD. 59 



uith the weight of their fruit, and a stack of props has to be used to prevent 

 the tree from splitting into pieces. Those who have seen the enormous crops 

 of apples that are produced on some trees in Tasmania or the old cider orchards 

 of Devon or Somerset can form an idea of the crops; but the writer, who 

 has seen both, as well as our Queensland trees, has no hesitation in saying that 

 a Queensland mandarin can give points to either as a heavy cropper ; in fact, 

 if it has a fault, it is its proneness to overbear, particularly when young. 

 This all tends to prove how well adapted Queensland is to the growth of citrus 

 fruits, and were I asked to select a country particularly suited to their culture 

 I should have no hesitation in naming this State, as I know of nowhere where 

 their culture can be carried out with less trouble, or where the trees will 

 produce better fruit or heavier crops. Queensland may well be termed the 

 home of citrus fruits, as we have no less than three native species which are 

 indigenous to the State, and are by no means uncommon in our scrubs. Their 

 presence gives unmistakable proof of the suitability of this State for the 

 culture of fruits of the same family, so that I think a short description of these 

 native species may not be out of place, but will be of same interest to my 

 readers. 



Citrus australis, the native orange or lime, is both the largest and most 

 common. It grows into a large tree, having a diameter of 15 to 18 inches in 

 the trunk, and a height of 60 feet or more. It produces a quantity of thick- 

 skinned acid fruit, of from 2 to 3 inches in diameter. The skin is full of a 

 resinous sap, and the fruit is of little value. It is a slow-growing tree, though, 

 as just mentioned, it attains a considerable size, is very hardy, and produces a 

 quantity of fruit. Its slow growth, when young, has prevented its use as a stock 

 on which to work improved varieties, but I have no doubt it would make a 

 very hardy stock that would be distinctly disease-resistant. 



The second variety is Citrus australasica, the so-called finger lime, a 

 thorny bush, producing a fruit of from f to 1 inch in diameter, and 3 to 4 

 inches long. The fruit has a thin skin, and contains an agreeable acid pulp 

 that varies in colour, in some specimens being of a reddish tinge that resembles 

 the pulp of a blood orange. These two varieties are met with in the Southern 

 part of the State, but the third is a Northern species, to which Mr. F. M. 

 Bailey, our Colonial Botanist, has given the name of Citrus inodora, the 

 ^N'orth Queensland lime. It is met with in the scrubs of the Russell River, and 

 is described by Mr. Bailey as bearing a greater resemblance to the cultivated 

 species than the two former varieties. It produces a fruit over 2 inches long 

 by 1J inches in diameter, having a thin rind and a juicy pulp of a sharply 

 acid flavour, so that even in its wild state it is a desirable fruit, and takes 

 the place of the cultivated lemon. Where native species flourish as they do 

 here, there is every probability of cultivated species thriving equally well, and 

 this is found to be the case in practice. 



No fruits are more generally distributed or have a wider range in this 

 State than those of the Citrus family, as, with the exception of the colder parts 

 of the Downs, where the winter temperature is too low, the Gulf country, and 



