PREFACE 



To First Edition. 



As it is a physical impossibility for the Yiticnltural and 

 Horticultural Expert of the Bureau to be in all places at all times, 

 ;and as the demands for Mr. Despeissis' advice have been so great, 

 the Bureau of Agriculture considered it advisable to have Mr. 

 Despeissis' views on cultural matters embodied in book form. 

 Before commencing the HANDBOOK OF HORTICULTURE AND VITI- 

 CULTUEE OP WESTERN AUSTRALIA, which is now presented to the 

 reader, Mr. Despeissis visited all the districts in the South- Western 

 Land Division of the Colony, so "he knows whereof he speaks." 

 Neither the Bureau of Agriculture nor Mr. Despeissis have spared 

 pains or expense to make the Handbook as complete as the some- 

 what limited time at the authors' disposal would permit. It was 

 hoped that the HANDBOOK would have been issued before the 

 present planting season, but the work insensibly outgrew its 

 originally prescribed limits. The HANDBOOK has been written as 

 much for the new-comer as those already settled upon the soil, and 

 for this reason chapters on the preliminary preparation of the land 

 have been included. Errors, almost inseparable from the some- 

 what hurried preparation of a book requiring a vast amount of 

 thought and research, may be discovered in these pages, but it is to 

 be hoped they will be immeasurably counterbalanced by the mass 

 of valuable information the HANDBOOK contains. In conclusion, 

 the Bureau of Agriculture would take this opportunity of acknow- 

 ledging the kind assistance received from the Hon. the Minister of 

 Agriculture of New South Wales, the proprietors of the " Austra- 

 lian Agriculturist," Messrs. Sandover & Co., and others, in lending 

 many of the blocks which illustrate this volume. 



L. LINDLEY COWEN, 



Secretary Bureau of Agriculture 



of Western Australia. 

 Perth, 12th July, 1895. 



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