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'■of fibre plants "which have been mentioned, and at greater or less 

 length described, there are several to which the special attention 

 of the husbandman has been directed, as being well known and 

 most suitable to ordinary conditions, as being easily cultivated, 

 and as producing the quickest returns. Professor Goodale, in his 

 presidential address delivered before the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, in August, 1891, speaking of 

 "the possibilities of economic botany, remarked that — " Countless 

 sorts of plants have been suggested as sources of good bast- 

 fibres, for spinning and for cordage, and many of these make 

 capital substitutes for those already in the factories ; but," he 

 adds, " the questions of cheapness of production and of sub- 

 sequent preparation for use have thus far militated against 

 success. There may be much difference between the profits 

 [promised by a laboratory experiment and those resulting from the 

 same process conducted on a commercial scale. The existence 

 of such differences has been the rock on which many enterprises 

 seeking to introduce new fibres have been wrecked." 



In conclusion, I think it will be generally admitted that what 

 we really require here is a number of experimental farms, say 

 eighteen or twenty, established in various parts of the colony, 

 choosing the best districts, where the soil is fairly good, and placing 

 ■each farm under the management of a thoroughly practical man, 

 who should be able to prove within a reasonable time the capa- 

 'bilities of his particular district ; in short, whether the soil and 

 climate were suitable for cultivating any special economic plants 

 likely to be a source of profit and benefit to the country. It is 

 scarcely necessary for me to remark that what will suit sayBallarat 

 ■or Dunolly may not thrive at Bendigo or Dookie, or vice versa, or 

 that plants which merely exist as miserable specimens in our public 

 gardens may thrive admirably in the warm valleys and splendid 

 undulating or hilly country to be found in Gippsland. By the 

 ■establishment of such farms experiments could be tried not only 

 with our numerous textiles but also with fodder plants, grasses, 

 and herbs, medicinal and scent plants, &c., devoting, say, a patch 

 of a quarter of an acre to each, thoroughly cultivating and testing 

 them in such a way that the people might be taught what plants 

 they should go in for as likely to become profitable industries 

 and what to leave alone. Then, indeed, might the valuable 

 collection of economic plants in our Melbourne Botanic Gardens 

 be made to serve far more useful purposes in some instances 

 than as botanical specimens in our borders or classified groups, 

 or in our plant sheds. I do not mean to say that such plants 

 should be sent in quantity anywhere, excepting to the experimental 

 farms suggested, in which case, after proving their adaptability 

 for the locality, and after practical lessons had been given in regard 

 to their cultivation, they could be propagated and freely distributed 



