Page:Acclimatisation; its eminent adaptation to Australia.djvu/41

39 still greater perfection in the Clarence River district, where the supply, Mr. Moore informs me, is almost inexhaustible; many may suppose that large trees, felled to supply a great demand, must be in the space of time destroyed; but when this tree is cut down, and stripped of its fibre, the remaining roots again throw up a large supply of suckers, which, in a very short space of time, will furnish a fresh supply of material, and, by the most common judicious management, the supply may become inexhaustible. The fruit of this tree grows in large clusters, resembling somewhat mulberries in form, and the bunches of fruit are about a foot long, and about the same in breadth, and have a handsome appearance on the tree, being of a beautiful pink colour. Judging from the fruit, which has been collected for the first time by Mr. Charles Moore, I am inclined to consider it will form a new genus of the natural order Urticaceæ.

That valuable fruit, the orange, introduced in 1780 and 1790, is now acclimatised in the colony, and the yield of fruit is of great value both for consumption in the colony and for exportation. The addition of new and valuable varieties has also still further increased the value of the fruit. All the other species of the citron tribe, such as citrons, lemons, shaddocks, &c., also thrive well in New South Wales. The annual value of the oranges, and others of the citron tribe, produced in the colony, does not, I believe, amount to a sum less than from £70,000 to £80,000. Such is another of the valuable results of acclimatisation.

By the union of our efforts as a society only can these objects he carried out for acclimatisation. It must he regarded as of national importance, requiring both the aid of the Government and the energy of the people, and by a systematic interchange of specimens from one society to another we shall add to the value of our collections.

One writer has observed that "when we consider the enormous influence produced upon the history of mankind by the sheep, the horse, the dog, and others of our domesticated animals, formerly existing in a state of nature and reclaimed from it by the agency of man, who can deny that results, if not equally great, yet of the utmost importance to the human race, may follow from additions yet to he made to this list. Look at the valuable varieties of poultry which have been introduced into this colony, and the increase of new kinds that have been acclimatised in a very short period of time, as our poultry shows in Sydney can testify; and even when compared to the exhibitions of the same kind in a city like London, which I have recently visited, the collection is highly creditable to so young a colony.