4 'SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



which supply also the best quality, yield as much <as 1 cwt. of 

 bark. Mr. Dickinson states that he has seen 10 cwt. of bark 

 obtained from a single tree of gigantic dimensions. The rate of 

 growth of the tree is about 1 inch in diameter of stem annu- 

 ally. It is content with the poorest and driest or sandy soil, 

 although in more fertile ground it shows greater rapidity of 

 growth. This Acacia is perhaps the most important of all 

 tan-yielding trees of the warm temperate zones, for its 

 strength in tannic acid, its rapidity of growth, its contented- 

 ness with almost any soil, for the ease with which it can be 

 reared and for its early yield of tanner's bark, and indeed also 

 gum and stave- wood. 



The variety dealbata (Acacia dealbata, Link) is generally known 

 amongst Australian colonists as Silver "Wattle. It prefers 

 for its habitation humid river-banks, and attains there a 

 height of sometimes 150 feet, supplying a clear and tough 

 timber used by coopers and other artisans, but principally 

 serving as select fuel of great heating power. The bark of 

 this variety is much thinner and greatly inferior to the Black 

 Wattle in quality, yielding only about half the quantity of 

 tanning principle. It is chiefly employed for lighter leather. 

 This tree is distinguished from the Black Wattle by the sil- 

 very or rather ashy hue of its young foliage ; it flowers early 



* in spring, ripening its seeds in about 5 months, while the 

 Black Wattle blossoms late in spring or at the beginning of 

 summer, and its seeds do not mature before about 14 months. 



Acacia falcata, Willdenow. 



East Australia. One of the best of trees for raising a woody 

 vegetation on drift-sand, as particularly proved at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Important also for its bark in tanneries. 



Acacia Farnesiana, Willdenow. 



Dioscorides' small Acacia. Indigenous to South Asia ; found 

 westward as far as Japan ; a native also of the warmer parts 

 of Australia, as far south as the Darling River ; found spon- 

 taneously in tropical and sub-tropical America, but apparently 

 not in tropical Africa. Professor Fraas has recognised in this 

 Acacia the ancient plant. The scented flowers are much 

 sought after for perfumery. This may also be utilised as a 

 hedge plant, and a kind of gum-arabic may be obtained 

 from it. 



Acacia fasciculifera, F. v. Mueller. 



South Queensland. Seventy feet high, branches pendent. 

 Desirable for culture on account of the excellence of its easily- 

 worked dark wood. 



