ac ' PKOCEEDINGS, JUNE. 



1853 or 1854. Sir William's tree reached, I think dimly, 290ft. 

 before a branch was given off and then ran up some 50ft. or 60ft. 

 more. Now, I want to ask you to turnup this record and to let me 

 know the results. You must have other records of big trees — some 

 which were cut down by the convicts near Port Arthur must, I believe, 

 have exceeded any record I have seen, and probably none remains. 

 This is a matter of Australian interest, and 1 fbel sure that your 

 Society will aid us now that we are trjing — with sufl&cieut funds at 

 our back — to find out the height of the tallest gum-tree in Victoria. It 

 is humiliating to have to give up the idea of the 500ft. tree of which 

 the Baron "V. Miiller wrote, but the close investigation now going on 

 will serve to give us data from actual measurement, and not from the 

 excited fancy of bush explorers. If you can assist me in this matter I 

 shall be very grateful. 



Mr. Swan stated that the late Anthony Trollope had expressed the 

 opinion that the Victorian trees equalled in height those of America. 

 His own personal observations had, however, been only in regard to 

 girth measurement. 



Colonel Legge, R.A., expressed the opinion that it would be well if 

 the Government would assist in the matter of obtaining reliable infor- 

 mation as to the height of their forest trees. Doubtless great misap- 

 prehension existed on this subject. Personally he had never seen any 

 trees which exceeded 250ft. in height. 



Mr. C. H. Grant expressed the opinion that the Maraposa and 

 Calaveras trees were larger than those of these colonies. 



Mr, Madlt explained the method in which the height of trees might 

 be easily ascertained. He thought the maximum height brought 

 under his notice was about 283ft. 



PAPERS. 



angoea goat farming. 



Mr. James Andrew read a paper on this subject which had not come 

 under the ?aotice of the Society since 1874, when an effort was made to 

 stimulate popular interest in favour of a trial in this colony of a descrip- 

 tion of stock -farming, elsewhere found so profitable. This, however, 

 has proved ineffectual, and it was a regrettable matter that mohair 

 (the fleece of the Angora goat) was absent from the list of our exports. 

 In Asia Minor, the natural habitat of the Angora goat, the present 

 value of hair exported from the province amounted to £200,000 per 

 annum. Col. Henderson was the first introducer of the goat in the 

 Cape Colony, and from an export of l,0361bs. in 1862 up to 1887 the 

 trade had grown to 7,154,000, of a value of £268,500, a fall of Id. per 

 lb. on the preceding year's clip. An additional item of export was the 

 skins, valued at £100,000, and even these figures failed to represent 

 the total value of the products of this useful animal, for the flesh of 

 the wether had been proved to be an excellent article of food. Latest 

 returns from the Cape showed the number of Angora goats in the 

 colony to be two and ahalf millions. Mr. Scott, Minister to Turkey 

 in 1848, was the introducer of the goat into America, but the industry 

 had not equalled the South African. As an evidence of the market 

 which existed for the fleeces he quoted from the Tariff Commission 

 of the United States, in which it was stated that — " The supply pro- 

 duced in the States, if multiplied threefold, would not be sufficient 

 tofurnish material for the plushes now used in the railway cars of that 

 country alone." The history of the endeavour to establish the industry 

 in Victoria had not been very satisfactory. It was feasible to cross with 

 the common goat the fleece of the fourth generation, pure sires being 

 used being equal for market purposes to that of the pure-bred ; 51bs. 

 might be taken as a fair average of a well-kept grade flock shorn 



