Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/365

Rh side by side with the lemon, orange, citron, pomegranate, fig, and guava. It took us a long while to find out exactly what was wanted, and during that time living was very dear in Brisbane. Now the city has a plentiful supply of fruit at very low prices, coming from the numerous gardens in its vicinity. Irrigate the soil abundantly, and it will produce almost anything in the world that you want. We send great numbers of pineapples and bananas to Sydney and Melbourne, and also to the higher country west of us.



"You already know," he continued, "that Australia is a land of contradictions, when considered from the stand-point of England or the United States. In your country the land with the heaviest timber is the best for agriculture after the wood is cleared away, but here it is often just the reverse. The largest trees which cost most money to