Bright colours of fruits--Unripe fruits and their effects--An intemperate Fungus--Oranges--Prickly pear and the monkey--Strong seeds--Bill-of-fare of certain birds--A wood-pigeon and beans--Ants and seeds--Bats, rats, bears, and baboons--The rise in weight of a Big Gooseberry--Mr. Gideon and the Wealthy Apple--Crossing fruits--Breadfruit and banana--Dates--Figs--Olives--Pineapples by the acre--Apples and pears--Home and Canadian orchards. AT Christmas time and during late autumn, there is but little colour in the country. Most green grasses have become a dull greyish-green, and the leafless brown and grey branches of the trees are not, at first sight, particularly interesting. But amongst this monotony of sober colouring, points of bright red or flaming scarlet may be noticed here and there. Sometimes it is a spray of Hips (the fruit of the Rose), or it may be a cluster of Hawthorn berries. At Christmas the Holly is positively gaudy with its bright scarlet fruit set off by the shining dark green leaves. Most fruits are some shade of red, but every fruit is conspicuous and easily seen. [Illustration: _Queensland Government Photo_ PINEAPPLES AS A FIELD CROP This is one of the important harvests in some parts of Queensland.] There is the most extraordinary range in colour. The Snowberry and Dwarf Cornel are pure white. The Mistletoe is a yellowish green. Pure yellow fruits are not common, but some of the Cucumber orders and Lemons are lemon or orange-yellow. The bluish-black of the Blaeberry or Bilberry, of the Bramble, and of many Plums and Prunes, goes along with a rather peculiar shade of green in the leaves which sets them off. The black Elder berries, on the other hand, have bright red or pink stalks which contrast prettily with them. The colours of apples vary: many of them have been rendered a gorgeous, glossy red through cultivation. One of the most beautiful colour contrasts in Nature is found in the rich black of the Olive, with its background of shining white twigs and silver-green leaves. Another very curious harmony is that of the Spindle tree fruit, which has a hard dull red case that opens to display the seeds: these are enclosed in a bright orange fleshy cup. Changes often occur. The Lily of the Valley fruit is at first green, then becomes flecked with red, and finally is a rich scarlet. Juniper berries change from green to purple. Now there is always some meaning in Nature for any series of facts such as these. Why are these fruits so brightly coloured and so conspicuous? Birds and other animals are intended to scatter the fruits and seeds, and so the fruits must be easily distinguished at a distance. The seeds are taken to some other place, where they germinate and form a new plant. This furnishes the clue and guide to many other peculiarities in fruits and seeds.