35 
I know of no industry so delightful, so healthful, as this. A 
valuable object-lesson in this line is to be found at the Govern- 
ment Scent Farm at Dunolly, where, under the enthusiastic 
superintendence of Mr. Mellon, a great variety of plants and bulbs 
are grown expressly for perfume purposes. 
In establishing a flower farm for perfumery purposes we must 
bear in mind that one great essential to pecuniary success is the 
ability to obtain cheap labour, such as women and children may 
afford ; it would never pay to give 6s. or 7s. per day to collect 
orange blossom or jasmine flowers. It would also be a mistake 
to attempt to cultivate too many kinds of scent plants ; only those 
specially adapted to the soil, situation, and climate should be 
selected. It is a well-known fact that these factors influence in 
a great degree the delicacy and fragrance of many flowers. The 
lavender and peppermint grown at Mitcham, in England, yield 
oils which far excel in value those of France or other countries. 
The greatest flower farms in the world are those lying on the 
shores of the Mediterranean, commencing near Nice on to Cannes, 
which is 20 miles, and from Grasse to the sea, 10 miles ; but for 
considerable distances beyond these inland places flower farming 
is carried on. Here grow the jasmine, the tuberose, the rose, and 
other plants as we grow cabbages, onions, or potatoes. Labour 
is abundant and cheap, men getting about 24 francs per day ; 
these of course do all the heavy work of the fields while women 
and children gather the blossoms and attend to hoeing and other 
light work, the former being paid from a franc to a franc and a 
quarter per day. In this colony of Victoria you enter a homestead 
of golden grain, there in France one of lavender sheaves; here of 
butter and cheese, there of olive oil and of violet butter; here 
vats of wine, there of orange flower and rose water. Now, while 
our sparse population and higher-priced labour may prevent our 
entering into successful competition with England, France, Italy, 
and other places in the cultivation of some of our commoner scent- 
producing plants, we are able to grow, as I stated before, some kinds 
infinitely better than any other country. Mr. Bosisto and some 
other chemists have after repeated trials succeeded in extracting 
what may perhaps be considered the most exquisite of all scents— 
I mean the Boronia megastigma. Now, if this can be profitably 
done, I have no hesitation in saying it would shortly become the 
most highly prized of all scents in Paris or Loudon ; the plant 
luxuriates in the poor sandy peaty soils of some parts of Brighton, 
Cheltenham, and numerous other districts, while I have also seen 
it doing equally well in the richer loams of more inland places. 
I am no great advocate for company forming, but it seems to me 
that there is a legitimate field for a number of persons to join 
together and form a company for the express purpose of growing 
perfume plants. Soil, situation, and climate would of course have 
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