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grown to advantage, not of course to the neglect of others which 
are known to be profitable, but as adjuncts, some perhaps at first 
experimentally only. Toa lover of his profession, there is an 
immense amount of pleasure derivable from testing and experi- 
menting upon new plants and novel industries. Nothing would 
be easier than to make up a list of exotic plants and trees which 
would grow in some part or other of the colony, but we are at 
once met with the high cost of production as compared with many 
other countries, and if we are to engage profitably with many of 
these it is inevitable that the price of our rural labour must be 
reduced. 
I have no desire to be thought a “paper” gardener—one who 
can sit down and write fluently on subjects he has no real practical 
knowledge of. J have many a time smiled at letters and articles 
which have occasionally appeared in our public press recommend- 
ing the cultivation of this plant or of that; scores, aye hundreds, of 
plants of economic value will grow with us, but the main. question 
we have to deal with is, can they be successfully and profitably 
grown here? This is the crux of the whole thing; itis simply a 
matter of £s. d. 
I have seen the cultivation of the tea plant recommended. We 
all know this plant will grow well in numerous places—for the 
past dozen years I have had it flowering and seeding at Mount 
Martha ; but to grow the plant to perfection, as I have seen it in 
the hilly districts of Ceylon, you must have a yearly rainfall of 
90 to 120 inches, so that the warm, moist, and steamy atmosphere 
will force the growth of leaves, and even if our climate were ever 
so favorable we could not compete with Coolie labour at the 
miserable price at which it is paid. A few years ago it was 
thought that that valuable quinine plant, the cinchona, would pay 
to cultivate here, but although it will grow in many places our 
climate is too dry and variable for it to succeed. In the cinchona 
districts of Ceylon the temperature is exceedingly equable, varying 
a few degrees only in the year. 
The conservatism of farmers and gardeners is proverbial, and a 
lot of drumming and drilling is required to get them to move out 
of the beaten paths they have been accustomed to, but we in this 
young country, with a fine climate and fruitful soil, must take 
every advantage of these, and cultivate any and every thing we 
can be assured will pay. The necessity for discovering every 
plant, fruit, and tree which will tend to increase our wealth from 
the soil, and expand our exports, never before existed to such an 
extent as now. All kinds of garden produce, and I may add 
farm produce as well, were never, I suppose, so cheap as at present, 
and I think if I can point out to you some plants and crops which 
can be profitably grown here—if I can set some of you thinking 
of what I say and recommend—I shall be pleased. Writers in 
