Some portions of land were laid out as vineyards; much attention being now paid to the cultivation of the vine in the colony. In the garden a number of gooseberry bushes had been planted, which were in flourishing condition, and loaded with fruit: it was considered rare to see them so productive near Sydney, although they thrive and bear abundance of fruit in the Argyle and Bathurst districts; but here it was only one part of the garden that was favourable to their growth, being that where the influence of the sun was not too powerful during the hot summers: care has also been taken to shelter the bushes, by small sheets of bark placed upon sticks at some elevation over them, giving a protection above, but at the same time not covering them so much as to cause any deprivation of the vivifying influence of light or moderate solar heat. Mr. Harper has been trying a great variety of foreign grain on different colonial soils; among others the Leghorn wheat, the ears of which are six inches in length, and from the straw the Leghorn bonnets so well known to the fair sex are manufactured. Proceeding on my journey; between this farm and Lupton’s Inn, I was accosted by a native black, who asked me, whether “I white feller parson,[76] for me want shilling;” but not being of the clerical profession, I did not consider myself liable to be placed under contribution, more particularly upon the highway. It occurred to me at the time, that he must have heard of the five hundred pounds, granted annually from the colonial funds for their conversion, and concluded that all clergymen should bestow their shillings on himself and comrades. We parted with this conditional bargain, that if he brought me birds and other animals, he should have shillings in return. Passing through “Bargo Brush,” the forest was still gay with flowers, with the additional beauty of the splendid proteacous shrub, called the “Warratah” or “tulip tree” of the colonists, which now displayed its brilliant crimson flowers. I remained for the night at “Mittagong,” and on the afternoon of the 10th arrived at “Arthursleigh,” the extensive and beautiful farm, the property of Hannibal M’Arthur, Esq.; I passed here two very agreeable days in the society of this gentleman and his friends. On the 12th I arrived at “Goulbourn Plains,” and on the evening of the 14th at “Yas Plains.”