Scrub 



In middle Chile there are thorny acacias in many 

 spiny forms, gummy-leaved plants in abundance, 

 beautiful Alstrcemerias and other bulbs, even Cereus' 

 and strongly fragrant perennials, which show distinctly 

 that the flora is again a typical scrub. But here again 

 there has been much disturbance by man and his 

 attendant domestic animals, which have grazed and 

 destroyed for at least five hundred years. 



In a general way, whatever plants grow in one of 

 these districts can surely be made to flourish in any 

 one or all of them. But the average Dutch Boer, Hotten- 

 tot boy, Chilian peon, French or Italian peasant, and 

 Australian do not show very much resemblance in 

 character and are not content with similar wages, so 

 that the question of what can be made to grow with 

 profit is a very difficult one. 



But for the patriotic South African or Australian 

 the past history of Greece, Rome, and Spain is en- 

 couraging enough. The present state of those countries 

 is perhaps not so promising, but their flourishing 

 periods were those when unintelligent man had not 

 succeeded in destroying the forests and the vegetation, 

 and it is from the vegetation of those long past eras 

 that the most promising hints should be obtained. 



1 Schimper. 2 Willkomm, * Desjardins. 4 White, 



6 Prout and Hood. 6 Detto. 7 Heller. 



315 



