and their Development. 149 



northerly of the States of North America it grows to a height 

 of fourteen feet ; and, while maize and other grain is killed 

 by frost alongside, the sugar cane remains uninjured. For 

 cattle-feed its nutritious powers, compared with hay, is as 

 three to one. Two crops of fodder can be grown in a season 

 from the same roots, irrespective of drought. In fact, as 

 green food for cattle, it is unrivalled, as it produces at the 

 rate of seven tons to the acre green, or two tons to the acre 

 cured. 



I do not refer to the sorghum cane here with reference to 

 its saccharine qualities for the manufacture of sugar, or for 

 distillation, but simply for its advantages for animal fattening, 

 it being freely eaten either in a green or dried state, by horses, 

 cattle, sheep, and swine. And the sorghum nourishes during 

 the summer season, when our natural pasture is suffering 

 much from drought. 



As I have spoken of the linseed and sunflower plants in 

 connection with the production of oil, as well as cattle-feed, 

 I would now continue the subject, by referring to the suita- 

 bility of our soil and climate for the growth of the olive 

 tree. Olive oil, we all know, is much in request ; and the 

 production of oil from the fruit of these trees is very easy. 

 The fruit is allowed to drop, which is preferred to beating 

 it from the trees, and would be better for us, as involving 

 less labor. The olives are collected in heaps, and taken to 

 a mill, where they undergo three distinct pressings or crush- 

 ings. The oil from the first pressing is the best ; that from 

 the next is inferior ; and the last yields an oil inferior still. 

 A couple of men are able to express a fabulous number of gal- 

 lons per day. This is a business, I need not say, we have 

 not yet gone into ; but it would be desirable for our farmers 

 to see the importance of growing the olive tree in planta- 

 tions. These, after a few years, would be most remunerative. 



There are few in this colony who do not know the castor- 

 oil plant, but there not many who know its value. For the 

 first two years of its growth it is rather handsome ; but its 

 beauty soon departs, and it is looked upon as an unsightly 

 cumberer of the ground, whereas in reality it is the more 

 valuable the older it is until it arrives at maturity. It is a 

 hardy perennial, and grows on year after year without re- 

 sowing. It is valuable principally for its oil, worth 10s. a 

 gallon. This oil is the only oil used for locomotive engines, 

 and for the journals of machinery. One locomotive engine 

 requires about ten pints a week, and other machinery in pro- 



