180 



SELECT PLANTS FOE INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Medicago sativa, Linne.* 



Orient; now spread through Middle and South Europe and 

 Middle Asia. The purple Medick, Alfalfa, or Lucerne. A 

 perennial fodder herb of great importance, and largely utilised 

 in most countries with a temperate clime, perhaps descended 

 from the English Medicago falcata, which also deserves natur- 

 alisation. Lucerne keeps green and fresh in the hottest season 

 of the year, even in dry and comparatively barren ground and 

 on coast sands, but developes itself for field culture with the 

 greatest vigour on river banks or when subjected to a judi- 

 cious system of irrigation, particularly in soil rich in lime. 

 Its deeply penetrating roots render the plant particularly fit 

 for fixing fenced embankments or hindering the washing away 

 of soil subject to occasional inundations. Much iron in the 

 soil or stagnant water is detrimental to lucerne culture, while 

 friable warm soil much promotes its growth. Langethal 

 records instances of lucerne having yielded on the same field 

 under favourable circumstances for fifteen years four or five 

 cuts annually. For sandy tracts a yellow variety (M. media, 

 Pers.) deserves preference. To show how enormously plants 

 are affected in their mineral constituents by difference of soil, 

 Lace has analysed the ashes of lucerne (a) from granitic soil, 

 (b) chalky soil with flints, (c) clayey with chalk, (d) very chalky, 

 and found 



Melaleuca ericifolia, Smith. 



South-East Australia. This tall shrub or bushy tree is of 

 importance for consolidating muddy shores ; almost like man- 

 groves, it will live in very salt ground and in water. It yields 

 also a comparatively large quantity of cajaput oil. It admits 

 of easy transplantation in an up-grown state. Myoporum insu- 

 lare (R. Brown) can in a like manner be used in tree plantations 

 for the sake of shelter on wet saline soil. Melaleuca linarifolia 

 and H. genistifolia can also be grown in swamps for hygienic 



