FRUITS OF QUEENSLAND. 93 



tree, bearing heavy crops of a very fine flavoured nut. The nut is about j-inch 

 in diameter, but the shell is very hard and thick. It could no doubt be 

 improved by selection and careful breeding. The Davidsonian plum is also 

 another fruit of promise. It is a handsome tree of our tropical North coast, 

 and bears a large plum-shaped fruit of a dark purple colour, with dark reddish 

 purple flesh, which is extremely acid, but which is well worth cultivation. 

 Several species of eugenias also produce edible fruit, and there are two species 

 of wild raspberries common to our scrubs. There are the native citrus fruits 

 I referred to in an earlier part of this paper, as well as several other less well- 

 known fruits that are edible. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



No work on fruit-growing in Queensland, however small, would be com- 

 plete without due reference being made to the vine, the last but by no means 

 the least important of our many fruits. Although the cultivation of this most 

 useful and popular fruit has not reached to anything like the dimensions that 

 vine culture has attained in the Southern States, particularly in the production 

 of wine, there is no reason why it should not do so at no very distant future. 

 We have many advantages not possessed by our Southern neighbours in the 

 culture of the grape, the first and most important of which is that our crop 

 ripens so much earlier than that of the South that we can secure the whole of 

 the early markets without fear of any serious opposition. Until quite recently, 

 grape culture was in a very backward state in Queensland, the grapes grown 

 on the coast being nearly all American varieties, which are by no means the 

 best wine or table sorts. A few grapes of European origin were grown on the 

 Downs and in the Roma district, but their cultivation was practically confined 

 thereto. Now, however, things have altered very much for the better. Many 

 good varieties of European grapes have been proved suitable to the coastal 

 climate of the Southern half of the State, and many inland districts other 

 than Roma and the Downs have also proved that they, too, can and do grow 

 first-class fruit both for table and wine. 



Now the culture of the grape extends over a great part of the State, from 

 the coast to the interior ; in the latter, its successful growth depending on the 

 necessary suitable water for irrigation, and on the coast to our knowledge of 

 how to keep fungus pests, such as anthracnose, in check by winter treatment 

 and spring spraying. 



In the Brisbane district many kinds of excellent table grapes are now 

 grown, which meet with a ready sale, such as the well-known Black Hamburgh 

 of English vineries, the Sweetwater, Snow's Muscat Hamburgh, Royal Ascot, 

 &c., as well as all the better kinds of American grapes, such as lona, Goethe, 

 Wilder, <fec. A little wine is made, but more attention is given to table fruit. 



