COUNTRY LIFE
IT is, I think, generally granted that the Fairbridge Farms represent the best of all the forms of emigration from Great Britain to the Dominions. This Christmas a special little pamphlet, so to call it, has been sent out illustrated with flowers taken as typical of each division of the Empire, thus: Rose, thistle and shamrock, maple leaf for Canada, mimosa for Australia, tree-fern for New Zealand, protea for South Africa. These flowers—grouped round the stars of the Southern Cross—make a charm- ing illustration. Are they also genuinely typical? By way of a small criticism, I do not think that the word " mimosa " is much used in Australia, and that " wattle" would be generally regarded as much more characteristic. Perhaps no class of plant is quite so particular to its own habitat as the protea to South Africa. There are, of course, proteas in Australia—some with peculiar adaptations designed to meet arid con- ditions—but the class is so salient and glorious in South Africa that no one, however little of a botanist, can restrain his admiration. As to Australia, a good many sorts of tree are widely spread ; but so far as my brief journeys went, I should say that West Australia greatly surpassed other parts in the splendour and variety of its flowers.
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