EUCALYPTUS TREES. 365 
clay-ground. This grass, and perhaps more yet the 
allied Phleum alpinum, L., are deserving of an ex- 
tensive transfer to our moory Alps. For hay, it 
requires mowing in a young stage. The seed is copi- 
ously yielded and well retained. 
Phoenix dactylifera, L.*— The Date-palm. North 
Africa, also inland; Arabia, Persia. This noble palm 
attains finally a height of 80 feet. It is unisexual, 
and of longevity. ‘‘Trees of from 100 to 200 years 
old continue to produce their annual crop of dates.” 
Though from the sap sugar or palm-wine can be ob- 
tained, and from the leaves hats, mats, and similar 
articles can be manufactured, we here would utilize 
this palm, beyond scenic garden ornamentation, only 
for its fruits. It is in the oases of our desert - tracts, 
swept by burning winds, where the Date-palm would 
afford, in time to come, a real boon, although it might 
be grown also in the valleys of our mountains and in 
any part of our lowlands. Several bunches of flowers 
are formed in a season, each producing often as many 
as 200 dates. Many varieties of dates exist, differing 
in shape, size, and color of the fruit; those of Gomera 
are large and contain no seed. The unexpanded 
flower-bunches can be used for palm - cabbage ; the 
fiber of the leaf-stalks for cordage. The town Elche, 
in Spain, is surrounded by a planted forest of about 
80,000 Date-palms, and the sale of leaves for decora- 
tive purposes produces, irrespective of the value of the 
date-fruits, a considerable income to the town; and so 
it is at Alicante. As far north as the Gulf of Genoa 
exists also a date-forest. 'Tke ease with which this 
palm grows from seeds affords facility, in adapted 
climes, to imitate these examples, and we certainly 
ought to follow them in all parts of Australia. 
