1 Jan., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. Bye 
The margins of these four ponds have been planted with Willows of 
different varieties. One is the golden basket Osier, which seems well adapted 
for basket-work. It would seem that basket-work is unusually expensive in 
this colony, due perhaps in some degree to the higher rates of labour, but the 
hampers, used so universally in England for packing, seem to be almost if not 
quite unknown here. ‘They are certainly not known in the cheap forms in 
which they are so extensively known in England. Yet Willows can be grown 
most readily. They have done well for five or six years, withstanding floods. 
and producing fine straight basket Willows. The large drooping Willow in 
the centres, between each pair of ponds, is the Salix Babylonica, so called 
because it is conjectured to be the tree upon which the captive children of 
Zion hung their harps when commanded to sing by their Assyrian masters. 
Note the great masses of roots which form in the water, and serve to bind 
together the bank. All these trees, whose natural habitiat is by the banks of 
running streains, help to keep the banks together, especially in time of flood,. 
thereby ensuring their own safety by protecting the bank from being washed 
away—another example of the mutual co-operation referred to at the opening 
of our talk to-day. 
By the margins of these ponds, efforts are made to encourage the growth 
of our native riverside grasses, and other native plants which thrive in such 
places. For this reason the margins are not kept neatly mown, at least until 
these plants have died down. In the great national gardens at Kew, extensive 
plots have been laid out in picturesque wildness, and planted with the native 
plants of Great Britain, and these are most delightful in the spring time 
when the native plants are chiefly in flower. Of course these spots are railed 
off from the public, but they are laid out in careless irregularity, winding about 
so that the people can see every part from the outside. 
It is hoped that it may be possible to do something in the same direction 
for our Queensland plants. 
SOWING LOGWOOD SEED. 
By PHILIP MAC MAHON, 
Curator, Botanic Gardens. 
Soar little time ago it was recommended in the Journal that persons haying 
business in our tropical scrubs would be doing a valuable work by sowing: the 
seeds of Logwood. The idea seems to have ‘“‘caught on,” and there have been 
several requests for seeds of this valuable tree from persons willing to sow it 
either in the scrub or in their own land. Some have asked for simple direc- 
tions for sowing. There are two methods which may be followed with success. 
A fine batch of young seedlings has just been raised here by the first method, 
and experience has shown the value of the second. 
1. Take any box about 4 or 5 in. deep, put in the bottom a layer of pot- 
shreds, or better still, broken charcoal, about an inch deep; spread over this a 
layer of rough leaf-mould, moss, spent hops, or any material which will prevent. 
the soil from getting down amongst the layer of drainage, and so souring the 
whole mass. ‘Then prepare a mixture of equal parts of loam, leaf-mould, and 
sand, mix thoroughly, fill the box to within about an inch of the rim, scatter 
the seeds over the surface fairly thickly, but not so as to choke the young 
plants when they come up. lf they average one inch apart, an ordinary 
fruit case will give you 370 plants. As to cover, this is important. If you. 
bury the seeds they will not germinate. Put some leaf-mould—z.e., decayed 
leayes—in a sicve and carefully sift a fine layer, not thicker than the depth of 
the seeds themselves. Water with a fine rose ; and if, on watering, any of the 
seeds are exposed, sift a little more leaf-mould over them, but do not bury them 
above all things. Water when the surface of the box looks dry; keep ina 
