326 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
wise the postal service. The telephone system is reason¬ 
ably cheap, one can telephone to almost any point in su¬ 
burban Melbourne for two cents, but the service is poor 
and inadequate, and personally I would sooner pay ten 
times more, and get proper service, of course all deficits 
in the operation of government owned utilities are cover¬ 
ed by taxations. 
The Australian bush is intensely interesting to a lover 
of nature. There are many birds indigenous to Aus¬ 
tralia, the laughing jackass, magpie, emu and black 
swan being the most noticeable. Most of the animals 
are marsupials, like the kangaroo, carrying their young 
in pouches. I saw six young wallabies (small kan¬ 
garoos) in strolling through the bush one afternoon. The 
flora is varied and fine. Eucahjptus and Acacias pre¬ 
dominate. There are many places where, for miles, the 
scrub is a sea of yellow blossoming Acacias, of which 
there are many varieties. 
There are many beautiful homes around the principal 
Australian cities, each home set in its own garden. Even 
point with pride to their beautiful cities, their young 
manufacturing industries, their large agricultural ven¬ 
tures, their natural resources, their beautiful bush scen¬ 
ery, their fine educational facilities, their homes, gar¬ 
dens, and open air free-from-carc-life, but not being cos¬ 
mopolitans or world travelers, they are rather sensitive 
of criticism. Practically all of their news of America 
reaches them via London or if direct from America, 
.through English news agencies, and consists largely of 
records of accidents, murder trials and lynchings. When 
an Australian visits America, he usually does not appre¬ 
ciate our culture or our industry, he overlooks the com¬ 
forts and conveniences of travel—largely because not 
being accustomed to them, he fails to use them—but he 
does remember the “awful ex])ense,” consequently he 
knows very little of America and when he does visit en 
route to England, he leaves with a rather bad impression 
of everything American. 
To briefly sum uj) the im])ression gained in a brief 
stay of six weeks, I would say that the average Austra- 
View in Botanical Gardens, Melbourne. 
ordinary homes of the workmen have beautiful gardens 
surrounding them. I doubt if there is any place in the 
world, not even excepting lower California, or the South 
of England, where the homes are surrounded by prettier 
gardens. Tree ferns such as Dicksonias, and Al- 
sophilas. Palms, such as Kentias, Phoenix, and Cocos 
grow luxuriously outside, and all kinds of ordinary gar¬ 
den flowers, such as Roses, Chrysanthemums, and an¬ 
nuals bloom most profusely. This has an effect on the 
life of Australians, which is interesting to Anericans. 
Their restaurants and hotels are few and away behind 
the times, as owing to the nice homes and lovely gardens 
surrounding them, the Australian prefers his home life, 
and uses the restaurants and hotels only when he travels 
and when he travels he expects to leave all home com¬ 
forts behind him, and he surely does. 
Australians are naturally proud of their country, they 
lian is extremely courteous, and hospitable. The shops, 
though small are good, well set up and well managed. 
The business men will compare favorably with those of 
any country, in ability, resourcefulness and integrity. 
The cities are well laid out and are kept clean, but every¬ 
thing pertaining to government controlled public util¬ 
ities is indescribably bad. The socialistic government 
is the one blot on the country’s bright surface, and if 
those of our people who are advocating government own¬ 
ership of railroads, etc.; municipal ownership of tele¬ 
phones, etc., would but visit Australia and see their fine 
theories carried out in naked practice, I am sure they 
not excepting Buenos Ayres or Paris. 
The street system of Melbourne is excellent and 
unique, large broad streets with narrow streets between, 
which are named Collins street. Little Collins street, 
Bourke street. Little Bourke street, etc. The streets are 
