Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1
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Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1
Written And Compiled By E.W. Cole (1832-1918)
First Published 1879 By Cole Publications, Melbourne, Australia.
73rd Edition Totalling 920,000 copies. [*]
Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1
Or Family Amuser And Instructor;
To Delight The Children And Make Home Happier;
The Best Child's Picture Book In All The World.
It Contains Also Choice Riddles, Games
and pieces of reading for Adults.
Look through it yourself.
Long ago the Rainbow was a Sign it is said,
Now 'tis the Sign of Cole's Book Arcade.
So, when in the sky a bow is displayed,
Be sure that you think of the Book Arcade.
Cole's Book Arcade strange as it looks,
Contains more than a million books.
New and second-hand, common and rare,
Can get most any book you want there.
[*] BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: The reprintings of this book since Cole's
death in 1918 have involved very few changes, and in most cases it
has been bibliographically misleading to term them "editions".
Undoubtedly, somewhere in the past, the distinction between a
"printing" and an "edition" has not been understood. However, with
due cognisance of the irregularity, the practice of giving each
reprint a new edition number accompanied by a running sales total is
being maintained for statistical interest.
Edward William Cole
Born Woodchurch, Kent, England
4th January, 1832
Died Essendon, Victoria, Australia
16th December, 1918
[Page 1--Australia]
Australia Is The Best Country On Earth
Australia a Grand Country
I think that Australia, for it's size, is, all-round, the best
country in the world. It's climate is pleasant and health-giving. It
has no desolating blizzards, no frost bites, and few sunstrokes. In
edible produce, for both size and quality, it stands very high, if
not the highest. I have been in many lands, but never saw a country
supply such a variety of products as Australia does--potatoes,
onions, cabbages, carrots, peas, beans and scores of other vegetables
in abundance. In fruits it produces apples, pears, plums, peaches,
oranges, grapes, and Northern Australia also produces all the
tropical fruits in abundance wherever cultivated. In corn Australia
produces superior wheat, oats, barley, maize and all other kinds in
abundance, especially when scientifically irrigated. As a milk,
butter and meat country, it is one of the best in the world. It is
the largest and best wool-producing country in the world. It contains
the largest area in the world especially suitable for growing cotton,
the most extensively-used clothing material. Flowers grow luxuriantly
and beautifully whenever cultivated and watered. A few years ago when
writing on the "White Australia" question, I stated that with high
culture, water irrigation, and scientific irrigation, Australia was
capable of supporting 400 millions of inhabitants. A high literary
authority, in reviewing the book, remarked that this seemed like a
"gross exaggeration"; but probably he had not thought so much on the
subject as I had.
I will here concisely state the principle reasons for my opinion. The
great want of Australia, to make it amazingly fruitful, is the
complete conservation of water and it's scientific application to the
soil. Water, warmth, and soil will grow anything in Australia, if
rationally managed. Australia has abundance of water now running to
waste. On thousands of house-roofs water enough is caught for the
domestic use of the respective families. Over large areas of the
country there are 30 inches of rainfall, and the average rainfall
over vast areas is 24 inches, and could be made much greater by
cultivation. Four-fifths of this water now runs to waste. Again
surface-parched Australia has vast areas of underground water which
only require to be tapped and brought to the surface, to irrigate and
fertilise the soil.
Australia is also a country where timber grows well and fast, if
planted in trenched ground and slightly irrigated. Hundreds of
straight trees can be grown upon an acre of land if they are first
planted thickly and some gradually thinned out. Many kinds of trees
will grow upon very poor soil if they are properly planted and
irrigated, as the bulk of their sustenance is derived from the air.
One more remark about trees and their possibilities as food
providers. Wherever any kind of tree will grow some kind of fruit
tree will grow. There are hundreds of millions of gum trees growing
in Australia. Where every one of these trees is, some kind of fruit
tree would grow if properly planted and looked after.
Again, to utilise Australia to it's full extent the whole world
should be sought through for the best plants and trees of every kind,
and only the very best grown, and those in situations and soil best
adapted for them.
One argument against Australia is that much of its surface is sandy,
but experiments and developments in various countries show that the
planting of marram grass, lupins, and other plants ties even the
drifting sand together and gradually, through their decay, turns the
sandy wastes into fertile soil. Besides, science can, in many other
ways, utilise the elements in the air to enrich the soil.
Australia's Mineral Resources
It has been objected that in the above epitome no mention is made of
the great mineral wealth of Australia. The reason is that minerals,
exceedingly useful as they are in the arts, are not absolutely
necessary (with the exception perhaps of iron) to the feeding,
clothing, and housing of mankind. Vast multitudes have lived without
them; but it may be remarked that Australia is a country very rich in
minerals; some hold it the richest in the world. It possesses immense
deposits of iron not yet utilised, and the most extensive gold-fields
yet discovered. Australia and Tasmania have, according to the latest
estimate of our Commonwealth Statistician, produced minerals to the
value of L660,252,694--comprising in round numbers, Gold
L474,000,000; Tin L24,000,000; and other kinds L8,000,000. The bulk
of the above has been produced during the last 60 years, in a
population rising from about 300,000 to 4,000,000 and it forecasts
how vast the mineral-producing future of Australia is likely to be.
Altogether Australia is a country as highly favoured by nature as any
other of equal size upon earth, for the bountiful production of
useful animals, vegetables, minerals, and men.
The Best Country On Earth--Unknown Australia
"'If we Australians took as much trouble to prepare for our summer
as the Canadians take to forestall their winter, Australia would be
THE MOST PROSPEROUS COUNTRY ON EARTH.'
The speaker was the Rev. A. R. Edgar, head of the Central Mission,
Melbourne.
"'After circling the globe, then, you are still satisfied that
Australia is not a bad country to live in?'
"'The best,' said Mr Edgar, emphatically. 'I have no hesitation in
saying that Canada and America are not to be compared with Australia.
Unfortunately, England doesn't know it. Australia herself doesn't
half realise it, and as for America and Canada, they haven't the
remotest ghost of a notion of it. In England they learn with
regrettable slowness, and their knowledge is scanty indeed; but
across the Atlantic the ignorance is deplorable. "Australia?" says
the Canadian. "Oh yes! Let's see, that's the place where it's always
droughty--yes, yes, to be sure, the place where y' can't get a drink
of water." He laughs at the idea of Australia producing as much wool
and wheat as Canada, and bluntly tells you there's no country on the
face of the planet can grow wheat and wool like his. But the fact is,
there isn't a bit of territory fit to compare with the Western
District of Victoria, for example, and conditions are infinitely
harder for the agriculturist than in Australia. Canada's western
district is icebound in winter, and her eastern lands are strewn over
with great boulders, between which the plough works laboriously in
and out'."--From the "New Idea."
I often feel for the dweller in Canada; for notwithstanding his
beautiful spring and autumn he has six months of ice and snow and
freezing winds, and I feel selfishly grateful that my lot is cast in
more genial Australia.
Let us well ponder Mr. Edgar's concise and forcible statement: "If we
Australians took as much trouble to prepare for our summer as the
Canadians take to forestall their winter, Australia would be the most
prosperous country on earth."
This is quite true. The Canadian must thoughtfully and rationally
prepare for his winter, or he would freeze and starve. We have no
frigid climate to prepare against, but we have possible drought, and
our first and greatest consideration should be the conservation of
water for irrigation.
This water conservation is exceedingly important thing. Men do not
think, and the waste is enormous. When the rain falls it runs into
the gully, from the gully to the creek, from the creek to the river,
from the river into the sea; and then in the dry season water is
deplorably scarce.
I once asked a young squatter from the New South Wales side of the
Murray "Have you got a garden?" He answered: "No: it is too dry up
our way!" I said, "How do you get water for domestic purposes?" He
answered, "We catch it off the roof; we catch it in 11 tanks and are
never out of a supply." I asked, "How large an area have all your
roofs put together?" He answered, "I think about 20 feet by 100
feet." This would be about a twentieth of an acre. Now just reflect!
One acre of rainfall would supply, if caught, 20 establishments like
that squatter's home, for the rain would fall fairly alike over that
part of the country. A rainfall of 30 inches over an acre of ground
measures about 680,000 gallons and weighs about 3000 tons, the bulk
of which is allowed to run away every year!
A gentleman said to me the other day, "Since the water was brought to
Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, under Sir John Forrest's great scheme, they
have very beautiful gardens right along the line of supply. Wherever
the water touches the land the vegetation is splendid, and, what is
more, the evaporation is bringing heavier rainfall." Of course,
wherever cultivation and irrigation are carried on, more evaporation
takes place, and, in most cases, causes additional rainfall.
When I affirmed that Australia was capable of supporting 400 millions
of people I did not mean Australia as we now have it, but as it might
be, and probably will be, when water is carefully conserved and its
soil scientifically irrigated and cultivated.
E.W. Cole
[Page 2--Cole's Funny Picture Book]
[Page 3--Index]
This Is The Funniest Picture Book In The World For Children
If you search through the World you will not get a book that will so
please a child, if you pay L100 or even L1000 for it. To parents,
Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, and Friends--Every Good Child should be
given one of these Books for being Good. Every Bad Child should be
given one to try to make it Good.
BABY RHYMES
Baby Going to Bed 4
Baby, Getting up 5
This Pig Went to Market 6
Baby Riding 6
Naughty Baby 7
LITTLE CHILDREN'S STORIES
Tom Thumb's Alphabet 8
Sing a Song-a-Sixpence 8
A Apple Pie 8
Captain Duck 8
Hey-Diddle-Diddle 9
GIRL LAND
Cry-Baby Belle 10
A Naughty Little Girl 10
Paulina Pry 10