No work on fruit-growing in Queensland, however small, would be complete without due reference being made to the vine, the last but by no means the least important of our many fruits. Although the cultivation of this most useful and popular fruit has not reached to anything like the dimensions that vine culture has attained in the Southern States, particularly in the production of wine, there is no reason why it should not do so at no very distant future. We have many advantages not possessed by our Southern neighbours in the culture of the grape, the first and most important of which is that our crop ripens so much earlier than that of the South that we can secure the whole of the early markets without fear of any serious opposition. Until quite recently, grape culture was in a very backward state in Queensland, the grapes grown on the coast being nearly all American varieties, which are by no means the best wine or table sorts. A few grapes of European origin were grown on the Downs and in the Roma district, but their cultivation was practically confined thereto. Now, however, things have altered very much for the better. Many good varieties of European grapes have been proved suitable to the coastal climate of the Southern half of the State, and many inland districts other than Roma and the Downs have also proved that they, too, can and do grow first-class fruit both for table and wine. [Illustration: Grosse Koelner Vine in Fruit, Roma District (Gros Colman).] [Illustration: Picking Grapes, Roma.] Now the culture of the grape extends over a great part of the State, from the coast to the interior; in the latter, its successful growth depending on the necessary suitable water for irrigation, and on the coast to our knowledge of how to keep fungus pests, such as anthracnose, in check by winter treatment and spring spraying. In the Brisbane district many kinds of excellent table grapes are now grown, which meet with a ready sale, such as the well-known Black Hamburgh of English vineries, the Sweetwater, Snow's Muscat Hamburgh, Royal Ascot, &c., as well as all the better kinds of American grapes, such as Iona, Goethe, Wilder, &c. A little wine is made, but more attention is given to table fruit. [Illustration: A Grape Vine in Fruit, Stanthorpe District.] [Illustration: Madresfield Court Grape.]