28 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
titiona of the Australian hush are as yet littlo 
noted, for our history is scarcely besun. Vet the 
extinction of many species of Australian grasses 
cannot pass unnoticed. These have not worn out, 
but they haTe been eaten out. ilaco after race 
have disappeared, and in thiir Btead, poisonous 
solanums, crowfoots, aconites, dropworts, burrs, 
thistles, and an hundred other trashy seeds, infest 
the noil. And man wonders when disease attacks 
his horso or his ox or his cow on the field, what can 
he tho causo. It is a truth, certain as far as 
humanity can discover truth, that, disease and death 
must in general bo referred directly, to tho kind of 
food partaken by man or his subordinate beast. 
The colony undergoes transition with a vengeance, 
and tnen mind it not, until the evil come > rap to 
their own doors, and then, how they bawl, Govern¬ 
ment of course, getting all the blame. The changes 
of grass Bocds suitable for this climate, form a very 
important subject for the Australian Association, to 
havo investigated, and tho means to get them dis¬ 
seminated, when the matter is determined, and the 
seeds obtained. Is another problem fully as difficult 
for solution, Mr. T. W. Shepherd already draws 
attention to this subject; a subject indeed, of deep 
colonial interest. 
Few seeds of the native grasses are manageable. 
I am however collecting specimens, which will be 
laid bye and bye, on the table of your most excellent 
Society. ROBT. MESTON. 
COLONIAL CASKS FOR COLONIAL 
WINE. 
We have groat pleasure in reprinting the 
following valuable paper, which originally 
appeared in the Empire newspaper. If 
ever this country is to become a large wine 
producing district) it must he acknowledged 
that the manufacture of the casks in which 
the wine is to be stored will assume a very 
important aspect, We have made some 
inquiries of practical men in this city, and 
from them we learn that hitherto very 
little success has attended their efforts to 
make casks but of colonial timber. It is 
stated,, that there is a quality in the wood 
which imparts a distinct flavour, and even 
a powerful colour to any liquid that is 
stored in it. Some time since, when horses 
were exported, hence to India, the water 
which was sent out in the colonial casks 
was almost undrinkable. A considerable 
quantity of tallow casks are now made of 
colonial wood called pear-tree, and they 
are found to answer very well. But for 
such a very delicate liquid as wine, we 
have yet to discover a suitable colonial 
timber for the manufacture of the casks. 
It will be found, however, that the elabo¬ 
rate table, and formulae, presented by our 
correspondent have an intrinsic value, con¬ 
sidered apart from the special material of 
which these vessels may be composed, and 
we accordingly present it to our readers. 
We should be, glad to hear that further ex¬ 
periments had been made on bur native 
timbers, with a view to discover a suitable 
wood for this important branch,of industry, 
The high character sustained at tho Paris Etliibihm 
by the vines of New South Wales naturally suggests 
regret that greater attention had not been paid to this’ 
staple product of the colony, all along from its first 
settlement, The vast importance of vine, is a stipb 
export of tho colony, has never yet gained sufficient con¬ 
sideration in influential quarters. The consequence is, 
that its production, all along, has been extreme !v 
limited—the profitless occupation of a few amateurs 
Nor can it.be expected to be otherwise, till the state of 
demand in the market be such that the merchant has 
it in his pover, to hand over readilv to the vinist ade¬ 
quate remuneration in the purchase of his yearly 
vintage. The Hunter River Vincvard Association had 
been eminently instrumental in promoting tho eiten- 
aion of vine culture in the colony, vhen the denhfe- 
ment in tho labour market, consequent on the gold 
discoveries, checked this extension, and even threw 
much vineyard ground out of cultivation. But, after 
the eclat attached to the exhibition of onr vines at 
Paris, 3 reaction may be reckoned on. Besides, there 
has been an extensive failure of tho vine crops of 
Europe ; and not only so, but a failure also of tho vines 
themselves. Disease, it seems, has been extensively 
busy in crippling seriously, if not in destroying en¬ 
tirely, vineyards of long standing and high name” so 
that the European merchant is driven to seek the re¬ 
plenishment of his stock from other quarters. What, 
then, more opportune than tho announcement conveyed 
in the decision of the “ Experts ” of Paris in relation to 
our colonial wine—“that to the European merchant 
New South Wales is the Land of Promise 1 ” 
No doubt, as a consequence, much disappointment 
will be felt, inasmuch as the entire nine produce of the 
colony is a mere bagatello. In order to meet the de¬ 
mand of the world for wine as a marketable commodity 
the.paltry amount of land at present under vine culti¬ 
vation in this colony, would require to he mntirilied 
ten thousand, times, und years, meanwhile must elapse 
before wo can bring to market anything like a dispos¬ 
able supply that shall he at all worth taking into 
account. Nevertheless, iu spite of all the drawbacks 
that have hitherto been, and still are, opposed to tho 
extension of. vine growth in this colony, slender liesiu- 
tion needs bo felt in predicting that wine mint, ere Ion-, 
become a staple production of primary importance. ° 
In anticipation of this stato of things it does not seem 
unimportant to suggest the_ propriety of meanwhile 
endeavouring to get all colonial wine-casks constructed 
on some scale of admeasurement that shall be far less 
objectionable than that odd medley of capacities which; 
in the wine trade, is now imported from Europe. The 
ankers, lialf-ankers, quarter-casks, firkins, barreh, 
hogsheads, puncheons, pipes, butts, and funs, thenas 
imported—varying most awkwardly and incommensur- 
ably, as they do in their contents—are moreover found 
experimentally to bo mere approximations to the mea¬ 
sures intended to he indicated by their heterogeneous 
names. Besides, even if they were accurate measure, 
in imperial gallons, of the contents designated bp the 
names of tho above specified casks, these measures 
themselves are extremely inconvenient. Destined, 
therefore, as we evidently are, as colonists, to be in tho 
course of time largo exporters of wine, it would consti¬ 
tute one mode of stamping distinction on our exports, 
were we agreed to export only in casks constructed 
on a scale of admeasurement originating with ourselves; 
which should, at tho same time, excel in convenience 
the range of admeasurement at present in use Besides 
the greater convenience that would thus he introduced 
into onr mercantile transactions in the wine trade, the 
peculiarity of our measurements would lie associated 
with the peculiar character of our vines. New Seat!; 
Wales casks would furnish a recognisable token of the 
presence of New South Wales mines. - ■ 
Thus thinking, I have ventured to solicit attention! 
