produced on some trees in Tasmania or the old cider orchards of Devon or
Somerset can form an idea of the crops; but the writer, who has seen
both, as well as our Queensland trees, has no hesitation in saying that
a Queensland mandarin can give points to either as a heavy cropper; in
fact, if it has a fault, it is its proneness to overbear, particularly
when young. This all tends to prove how well adapted Queensland is to
the growth of citrus fruits, and were I asked to select a country
particularly suited to their culture I should have no hesitation in
naming this State, as I know of nowhere where their culture can be
carried out with less trouble, or where the trees will produce better
fruit or heavier crops. Queensland may well be termed the home of citrus
fruits, as we have no less than three native species which are
indigenous to the State, and are by no means uncommon in our scrubs.
Their presence gives unmistakable proof of the suitability of this State
for the culture of fruits of the same family, so that I think a short
description of these native species may not be out of place, but will be
of some interest to my readers.

[Illustration: Young Orange Orchard (6 years old) on scrub land, near
Mapleton, Blackall Range. Showing the standing scrub in the background.]

_Citrus australis_, the native orange or lime, is both the largest and
most common. It grows into a large tree, having a diameter of 15 to 18
inches in the trunk, and a height of 60 feet or more. It produces a
quantity of thick-skinned acid fruit, of from 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
The skin is full of a resinous sap, and the fruit is of little value. It
is a slow-growing tree, though, as just mentioned, it attains a
considerable size, is very hardy, and produces a quantity of fruit. Its
slow growth, when young, has prevented its use as a stock on which to
work improved varieties, but I have no doubt it would make a very hardy
stock that would be distinctly disease-resistant.

The second variety is _Citrus australasica_, the so-called finger lime,
a thorny bush, producing a fruit of from 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter, and
3 to 4 inches long. The fruit has a thin skin, and contains an agreeable
acid pulp that varies in colour, in some specimens being of a reddish
tinge that resembles the pulp of a blood orange. These two varieties are
met with in the Southern part of the State, but the third is a Northern
species, to which Mr. F. M. Bailey, our Colonial B