38 
ars after planting, and are easily manufactured into the 
cane of he We import annually 50,000 to 60,000 lbs. 
weight, of a value of upwards of £2,000. There is an import 
duty of 2d. per lb. ae . 
To any one thinking of embarking in the culture of medicinal 
plants, or, in fact, the culture of any plant not in common cultiva- 
tion, I would urge him to procure a copy of Baron von Mueller’s 
valuable work entitled “Select Plants for Industrial Culture,” 
price 5s., to be had at the Government Printing Office, and should 
be purchaseable at our principal booksellers. 
Dye Pants. 
Out of the numerous plants used for dyeing I can hardly point 
to one I think would pay us to cultivate. Indigo, woad, turmeric, 
safflower, madder, sapan-wood, in fact the bulk of plants used 
for this purpose, come chiefly from India, and, even supposing our 
climate was suitable, we could not compete with the cheap labour 
of that country. The late curator of the Adelaide Botanic 
Gardens, Dr. Schomburg, who was an enthusiast in experimental 
cultivation, had got together a fine collection of dye plants and 
dyes, numbering about 70 objects, but at this moment I do not 
remember that he was sanguine of the successful and profitable 
cultivation of but a very few. 
THE Carer Puant (Capparis spinosa) 
has not, I think, been grown anywhere in the colony with a view: 
to profit, and yet it does well in numerous places, and there is 
little doubt but that we could grow it as well as Southern Spain, 
from whence our chief supplies are sent. As a pickle the flower- 
buds of the caper are in great esteem everywhere. The buds are 
gathered by children, then thrown into a cask containing as much 
salt and vinegar as is sufficient to cover them, and as the supply 
of capers increases more vinegar is added. This runs on for, say, 
six months, when the caper season closes. The casks are then 
emptied and the buds sorted according to their size and colour, the 
smallest and greenest being considered the best. They are then 
put into smaller casks ‘of fresh vinegar for commerce, and in this 
state will keep for five or six years. The caper plant is pro- 
pagated from seeds, from cuttings of the stems, and also from 
pieces of the root. It must have a warm aspect, delights in dry 
or even rocky situations, and positively refuses to grow in wet 
land. In my old garden at South Yarra we grew it merely as an 
ornamental plant, but winter frosts generally damaged it con- 
siderably. It required a higher and drier place than the margin 
of a swamp. 
