44 Agricultural and Horticultural Resources. 



will add a new and important branch to the resources of the 

 country. 



Many plants which a few generations hence may possibly 

 add largely to the indigenous resources, are as yet not even 

 introduced into the country. Might not our subalpine moors 

 and forests produce an abundance of the pleasant fruit of 

 Vaccinium Myrtilius and the other fruit shrubs of the colder 

 climates ? Might not fields of liquorice be grown here with 

 advantage, in a climatic zone alike to that of its native 

 country ? Might not the Carob tree, which bears for a long 

 succession of years, be grown not merely as an ornament of 

 our gardens, but also for obtaining its fruit for cattle forage ? 



Much might be done for the improvement of our pastures 

 by the introduction of nutritious perennial grasses. Besides 

 the superior fodder herbs generally known, the Bromus uni- 

 oloides has of late been deservedly recommended, as resisting 

 the drought of the climate. The Chinese tea-plant grows 

 vigorously in the milder parts of the colony. The cork-oak 

 exists as yet but sparingly in Victoria, though our climate 

 would invite the extensive cultivation not only of this useful, 

 beautiful, and umbrageous tree, but also of the many other 

 useful plants indigenous to, or cultivated in, the southern part 

 of Europe, such as the Senna, the Mastix tree, the Ballota oak, 

 the Tragacanth plants, the Manna ash, &c. 



Scarcely any of those American oaks, valuable for their 

 edible acorns, seem hitherto to have found their way into this 

 country. Amongst pines with edible fruit, the stately Araucaria 

 Bidwillii has been rather extensively distributed over the 

 country, and is found able to resist both the occasional frosts 

 of our rainy seasons and the sirocco of our summer, though, 

 from its circumscribed geographical limits in the moist forests 

 of Eastern Australia, this result was hardly to be expected. 

 The same observation applies to the still rarer Dammar pine 

 of East Australia, which is very closely allied to the Amboina 

 Dammara, and should, for the usefulness of its timber for masts, 

 and for its resin, be established in our forests ; and, singular 

 though it may appear, this species is much better adapted to 

 our climate than the New Zealand kauri. The cones of 

 Araucaria Bidwillii are perhaps the largest of the coniferae, 

 approaching in size to cocoa nuts. Araucaria imbricata proves 

 here of less celerity of growth than A. excelsa, A. Cunning- 

 hami, or A. Bidwillii. The useful stone-pine is well adapted to 

 our climate, but as yet but little distributed over Victorian 

 territory. Many of the Himalayan pines are gradually finding 



