FRUITS OF QUEENSLAND. 83 



includes such well-known plants as the potato, tomato, tobacco, &c., and 

 altogether unlike the common gooseberry, which, by the way, is one of the 

 fruits that we cannot do much with. In addition to being grown in the wild 

 manner I have described, it is occasionally cultivated in a systematic manner, 

 somewhat like the tomato, but not to any extent ; growers preferring to depend 

 on it as a first return from newly fallen and burnt-off scrub land. As a fruit 

 it meets with a very ready sale, as it is one of the best cooking fruits grown ; 

 plainly stewed and served with cream, made into puddings or pies, or converted 

 into jam, it is hard to beat. The jam has a distinct flavour of its own, one that 

 one soon becomes very partial to, besides which it is an attractive-looking jam 

 that, were it better known in the world's markets, would, I feel sure, meet with 

 a ready sale at satisfactory rates. The plant is somewhat susceptible to cold, 

 hence it does best in a district free from frost, but it is not killed out by light 

 frosts, only killed back, and its crop put back. Like all plants belonging to 

 the same natural order, it likes a good soil, rich in available potash, and this is 

 probably the reason why it does so well on newly burnt-off scrub, the ashes of 

 which provide an ample supply of available potash. 



THE OLIVE. 



A much-neglected fruit in this State, as it is also in most English-speaking 

 countries. Few English people are fond of either the fruit or the oil, and yet 

 it is probable that there is no tree that for the space it occupies will produce 

 a greater annual return of food than the olive. A number of trees are scattered 

 throughout the State, some of which are now of large size and fair age, but, 

 so far, practically nothing beyond making a few gallons of oil and pickling a 

 few gallons of fruit has been attempted, and this only in a purely experimental 

 manner. 



The present condition of the olive industry is destined to have a wakening 

 up ere long, as a country that can produce this fruit in such quantities and of 

 such a quality as the lighter soils of the Darling Downs is destined some day 

 to be one of the largest producers of olives on earth. Some years since I 

 planted a number of the best varieties of olives trees obtained direct from 

 California on the Darling Downs, in land that I considered suitable for their 

 growth, and which was properly prepared prior to planting. The trees here 

 have made a really phenomenal growth, they came into bearing within three 

 years of planting, and have borne steadily ever since. They have proved 

 enormous bearers, and an experimental crushing showed that the oil was of 

 high quality. 



There are large areas of similar country to that in which they are planted 

 in different parts of the State, and I feel certain that this really valuable food 

 fruit is bound some day to be a considerable source of our national wealth. 

 So far, the drawback to the growth of olives has been the cost of gathering the 

 fruit and the limited demand for the oil or pickled fruit, but, against this, it 

 has many advantages, one, and by no means the least, of which is its value as 

 a shade and shelter tree on our open treeless plains. It is also a very hardy 



