SALT- BUSHES 59 



the warmer parts of Africa. An illustration of the Old Man 

 Salt-Bush accompanies this letterpress. The pollen producing 

 flowers are shown on the larger branch, and the seed bearing 

 ones on the smaller one. 



Amongst the most widely and favourably known of the 

 creeping Salt-Bushes is Atriplex semibaccata, an illustration 

 of which accompanies this letterpress. It occurs in all the 

 Australian States from the coast to very far inland, but is 

 much more abundant in the latter than the former. This 

 plant consists of many slender, herbaceous stems spreading 

 in a wild state from one foot to two feet or more, but under 

 cultivation its growth is simply astonishing, and a single 

 plant has in one season covered a space sixteen feet in diameter. 

 Its roots penetrate the earth to a great depth, and thus enable 

 the plant to withstand a long period of dry weather without 

 its growth being seriously checked. All experienced stock- 

 owners regard this Salt-Bush as most valuable feed for sheep 

 which thrive and fatten on it. In the report of the American 

 Agricultural Experiment Stations, the following statement 

 about this Salt-Bush occurs: "This plant (Atriplex semi- 

 baccata) has proved most valuable in some of the worst alkali 

 spots of California. The yield of a full crop is about twenty 

 tons of green material, or, calculating on the basis of seventy 

 five per cent, of water, five tons of dry matter per acre. A 

 good season would permit of two such crops. It seems to be 

 already demonstrated that this Australian species of Atriplex 

 will constitute itself a most important industrial factor in 

 this State, and will render productive vast tracts of land 

 which are at present a blot on the landscape. ' ' When allowed 

 to grow undisturbed for a time this Salt-Bush produces quan- 

 tities of seed which usually ripen during the summer and 

 autumn. There are thirty-one known species of Atriplex 



