26 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



thence the main supply of the Barbadoes-aloes, also Guinea-aloes; 

 likewise in East-India this species seemingly only exists in a cultivated 

 state. Haworth found the leaves of this and of A. striata softer and 

 more succulent, than these of any other aloe. It is said to be the 

 only species with yellow flowers among those early known, and it is 

 also the only one, which Professors Wilkomm and Parlatore record as 

 truly wild in Spain and Italy. 



Aloexylon Agallochum, Loureiro. 



Cochinchina, on the highest mountains. The precious aloe- wood, 

 so famed from antiquity for its balsamic fragrance and medicinal pro- 

 perties, is derived from this tree. 



Alopecurus bulbosus, Linne". 



Middle- and South-Europe. An important rural grass for salt- 

 marshes. 



Alopecurus geniculatus, Linne", 



Europe, Asia, North- Africa. A perennial fodder-grass, valuable 

 for swampy ground ; easily naturalized. 



Alopecurus pratensis, Linne". 



Meadow " Fox-tail" grass. Europe, Northern Africa, Northern 

 and Middle Asia. In Norway indigenous to lat. 69 11' (Schue- 

 beler). One of the best of perennial pasture-grasses. It reaches 

 its full perfection only after a few years of growth, as noticed by 

 Sinclair. For this reason it is not equal to Dactylis glomerata for 

 crop-rotation, but it is more nutritious than the latter, although the 

 annual return in Britain has proved less. Langethal places it next 

 to Timothy-grass for artificial pastures. Sheep thrive well on 

 it. Sinclair and others have found, that this grass, when exclusively 

 combined with white clover, will support after the second season five 

 ewes and five lambs on an acre of sandy loam; but to thrive well 

 it needs land not altogether dry. In all permanent artificial pastures 

 this Alopecurus should form one of the principal ingredients, because 

 it is so lasting and so nutritive. It is also one of the best grasses for 

 maritime or alluvial tracts of country. In alpine regions it would 

 also prove prolific, and might gradually convert many places there into 

 summer-pastures. It does not altogether dislike shade, is early 

 flowering and likes the presence of lime in the soil. 



Alstonia constricta, F, v. Mueller. 



Warmer parts of East- Australia, particularly in the dry inland- 

 districts. The bark of this small tree is aromatic-bitter, and 

 regarded as valuable in ague, also as a general tonic. It is allied to 

 the Dita-bark of India and North-Eastern Australia, procured from 

 Alstonia scholaris (R. Brown), and from this bark a peculiar alkaloid, 

 the Porphyrin of Hesse, is prepared. The sap of all Alstonias should 

 be tried for caoutchouc, that of A. plumosa and another species yield- 

 ing Fiji-rubber (Hooker). 



