8 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Brown), renders most important service in subduing loose coast-sand, 

 the lower branches striking root into the soil ; it should therefore be 

 disseminated on extensively bare sand-shores in regions, where no 

 severe frosts occur. The bark of A. longifolia is only half as good as 

 that of A. niollissima for tan, and used chiefly for sheep-skins. The 

 tree is of quick growth. 



Acacia macrantha, Bentham. 



From Mexico to Argentina, also in the Galapagos- Group. This 

 tree, usually small, provides the " Cuji-pods " for tanning [Sim- 

 monds] . 



Acacia Melanoxylon, B. Brown.* 



South-Eastern Australia. Ascends to sub-alpine country. Gene- 

 rally known as Blackwood-tree, passing also under the inappro- 

 priate name of Lightwood-tree. In irrigated glens of deep soil the 

 tree will attain a height of 80 feet, with a stem several feet in 

 diameter. The wood is most valuable for furniture, railroad-cars 

 and carriages, boat-building (stem and stern-post, ribs, rudder), for 

 tool-handles, crutches, stethoscopes, some portions of the work of 

 organ-builders, billiard-tables, pianofortes (for sound-boards and 

 actions) and numerous other purposes; it has also come into use 1 for 

 casks, which need however previous long soaking. Planks 12 feet 

 by 4 feet are occasionally obtainable for select purposes. Specific 

 gravity of the dry wood O664-0-777. The Victorian Railway- 

 Commissioners report it for railway-carriages better adapted than 

 almost any other timber, being handsome and durable, and not par- 

 ticularly expensive; wood from hilly country is also in this instance 

 superior to that from low and particularly wet localities. The 

 fine-grained wood is cut into veneers; it takes a fine polish, and is 

 considered almost equal to walnut. The best wood in Victoria for 

 bending under steam; it does not warp and twist. Local experiments 

 gave the strength in transverse strain of Blackwood equal to Euca- 

 lyptus-wood of middling strength, approaching that of the American 

 White Oak, and surpassing that of the Kauri. The bark contains 

 up to 20 per cent, mimosa-tannin. The tree has proved, with A. 

 mollissima and A. dealbata, hardy in the Isle of Arran [Rev. D. 

 Landsborough]. Mr. T. R. Sim states that it thrives well in Cape 

 Colony wherever it finds plenty of root-moisture, but without that 

 it dies out early. 



Acacia microbotrya, Bentham. 



South-Western Australia. The " Badjong." A comparatively 

 tall species, the stem attaining a diameter of 1 to 1J feet. It prefers 

 river-valleys, and lines brooks naturally. According to Mr. Geo. 

 Whitfield, a single tree may yield 50' Ibs. of gum in a season. The 



aborigines store the gum in hollow trees for winter-use; it is of a 



pleasant, sweetish taste. 



