14 



per diem. These figures are given to show that almost any- 

 where on the plains stretching between the hills and the sea 

 artesian water can be struck at a moderate cost, wherein the 

 height of the surface of the ground does not exceed 30ft. to 40ft. 

 above the sea level." 



In many cases, however, especially in those districts with a 

 scanty rainfall, more highly mineralised soil and indiiferent drainage 

 facilities, the advisableiiess of using artesian water or any water at 

 all for the purpose of irrigation is one which should receive careful 

 consideration, as it is well known that under such conditions 

 irrigation almost invariably raises the salt line to an extent which 

 may prove injurious to fruit trees. 



SELECT VARIETIES OF FEUIT ACCORDING TO CLIMATE. 



In broad lines, the* temperature and the rainfall of various 

 regions of the State have been rapidly mapped out. In every 

 respect they are shown to be favourable to the successful cultivation 

 of fruit trees, from tropical as well as from temperate climates. 

 The physical or the chemical characteristics of soils can be altered, 

 but the main features of climates are always the same, and cannot 

 be disregarded in the selection of crops. Thus, soil eminently 

 favourable for requirements of the grape vine may be met with in 

 Scotland, as well as in the most renowned districts of the south of 

 Europe ; yet malt liquors and whiskeys contribute to the wealth of 

 the Scotch farmers, and brandies and wines that of the vine- growers 

 of the sunny south. 



But apart from the influence of latitude, altitude and aspect 

 also tend to modify climate. Snow is met with under the equator 

 on mountains of high altitude. According to the explorer Hum- 

 bolt, the thermometer falls one degree for every 340ft. of elevation ; 

 and under the influence of this law the climate is cooler, and 

 consequently fruits ripen later on the hills than they do in the low 

 land. An instance of this is afforded along the trunk railway line 

 running from the sea over the hills to the eastward. There we see 

 that under the influence of otherwise similar climatic conditions 

 the maturation of fruit crops and grapes is retarded by two or three 

 weeks on the Darling Eanges, at Mundaring or Chidlow's Well, at 

 an altitude of about 1,000ft. above the plains on the Swan. 



If we proceed another 100 miles eastward, we notice that this 

 period of maturation of fruit is entirely reversed under the influence 

 of intervening causes. 



At Tammin and Kellerberrin, for instance, with an altitude of 

 200ft. only less than at Mundaring or Chidlow's Well, and some 

 750ft. above the Swan, grapes and fruits come to maturity a week 

 or two earlier than they do on the coast. There the retarding 

 influence of altitude is counterbalanced by the more active light, 

 the lesser degree of air humidity, and probably by the greater 

 degree of heat absorbed by the soil. 



