preparing for extensive fruit export, the grower is enabled to dispose 

 locally at highly remunerative prices of small parcels of fruit he may 

 gather from his young trees. 



WEST AUSTRALIAN FRUIT LAND. 



From Cambridge G-ulf, in the tropical North, to the Great 

 Australian Bight, in the temperate Southern regions, Western 

 Australia unfolds a coast line of over 1,200 miles capable of growing, 

 according to latitude, some sort of fruit or other. 



Under the regulating influence of the monsoons, the rainy 

 season follows the dry one with almost clockwork precision ; and 

 thus, within the coastal zone, the grower knows what to expect, 

 nor is he confronted either by a sweeping deluge or a prolonged 

 drought. 



Farther inland great waterless tracts of fertile land occur, which, 

 with the spread of settlement, disclose favoured spots without 

 number where artificial irrigation is rendered possible, and where 

 fruit-growing offers great possibilities. 



In this handbook no reference will be made to that part of 

 Western Australia extending from the Kimberley districts on the 

 North to the latitude of the Murchison River 28 S. 



That vast stretch of country is for me unknown territory, and, 

 until an opportunity is offered me of getting acquainted with its 

 natural features, I feel loth to pass judgment as regards its capabil- 

 ities for growing fruit. Few settlers, hitherto, in that vast stretch of 

 country, until recently given almost entirely over to pastoralists, 

 have paid systematic attention to horticulture. The cause is 

 easy to discover. Few, if any one, of those who in the past 

 have lived at the Nor'-West and the North of this State have had 

 any idea of permanently settling down. WhiJst there their whole 

 attention has been engaged in more or less nomadic occupations ; 

 the small cultivated patch has proved sufficient to supply the 

 requirements of the household, and no inducement had until now 

 offered to plant largely, owing to the lack of frequent and quick means 

 of communication with the markets of the South. Sufficient is, how- 

 ever, known to state that at several places where facilities offer for 

 irrigation, or where the soil is naturally moist, the cultivation of 

 tropical plants and fruit trees has been atte tided with such success 

 as points to great possibilities in that direction. 



One of the most successful undertakings of that nature is that 

 of the Trappists' Mission at Beagle Bay, about 21deg. lat. S., 

 where some 10 acres have been planted, chiefly with bananas, man- 

 goes, guava, figs, tamarind, date palm, cocoanut trees, oranges, and 

 lemons, which all thrive well. 



In a report on the capabilities of the East Kimberley district, 

 Mr. R. Helms, the biologist of the Bureau of Agriculture, said : 



" The greatest prosperity of the country will begin when the 

 cultivation of specially tropical products is taken up in earnest. 



