26 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



best of evergreen trees for cemeteries in a climate free from frost. 

 Exudes a kind of kino. The foliage is rich in antiseptic oil. 



Agriophyllum Gobicum, Bunge. 



Eastern Asia. The " Soulchir " of the Mongols. Przevalsky 

 says, that the seeds of this plant, wild as well as cultivated, afford a 

 great part of the vegetable food of the Ala-Shan nomads. Several 

 other annual salsolaceous herbs belong to the genus Agriophyllum, 

 among them A. arenarium (Bieberstein) being closely cognate to A. 

 Gobicum. 



Agrostis alba, Linnd (A. palustris, Hudson.) 



The Fiorin or White Bent-Grass. Europe, Northern and Middle 

 Asia-, North- Africa, North- America. Perennial, showing a predi- 

 lection for moisture ; can be grown on peat-soil. It yields a good 

 return already in the first year, but is not so well suited for mow- 

 ing as depasturing. It is the herd-grass of the United States, and 

 valuable as an admixture to many other grasses, as it becomes 

 available at the season, when some of them fail. Sinclair regards it 

 as a pasture-grass inferior to Festuca pratensis and Dactylis glome- 

 rata, but superior to Alopecurus pratensis. The variety with long 

 suckers (A stolonifera) is best adapted for sandy pastures, and helps 

 to bind shifting sand on sea-coasts, or broken soil on river-banks. It 

 luxuriates even on saline wet soil or periodically inundated places, as 

 well observed by Langethal. It is more a grass for cattle-runs than 

 for sheep-pastures, but wherever it is to grow, the soil must be 

 penetrable. Its turf on coast-meadows is particularly dense and 

 of remarkable fineness. For sowing, only one-sixth of the weight 

 of the seeds, as compared with those of the rye-grass, is needed. 

 The creeping variety is also valuable for fine and enduring lawns. 



Agrostis Muelleri, Bentham. 



Alps of Australia and New Zealand. Valuable there for depas- 

 turing, as well as some other grasses endemic to our alps. 



Agrostis rubra, Linn6. 



Northern Europe, Asia and America. A perennial grass, called 

 red-top and also herd-grass in the United States of North- America. 

 Professor Meehan places it for value on pasture-land among grasses 

 cultivated there next after Phleum pratense and Poa pratensis (the 

 latter there called blue-grass), and before Dactylis glomerata, the 

 orchard-grass of the United States. 



Agrostis scabra, Willdenow. 



The Hair-grass of North- America. Recently recommended as one 

 of the best lawn-grasses, forming a dense turf. It will grow even 

 on poor gravelly soil, and endure drought as well as extreme cold. 



