VII Gardening in Australia
933. The gardening of Australia, like that of every other newly colonised country, will depend jointly on the gardening knowledge of the settlers, and on the capabilities of the climate. The climate of Australia includes all the desirable climates of the world, from that of Van Diemen's Land, which resembles the climate of the south of England, to that of Sydney, which admits of the culture of tropical fruits in the open air. The botanical riches of Australia, and the singular aspect of its native plants, are well known. It has few, indeed scarcely any, native fruits; but it admits of the growth of all the fruits cultivated in the open air in Europe, and these have already been introduced and disseminated ; while, in the botanic garden at Sydney, the pine-apple, the sugar-cane, the bread-fruit, and the banana, may be seen in the open garden, protected, during six weeks or two months, by a covering of glass, but without flues.
