}08 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



and various other purposes. A yoke was unimpaired after having 

 been in use for 14 years [Crawford]. The foliage is much liked by 

 pas ture-animals . 



Casuarina Decaisneana, F. v. Mueller. 



Central Australia, where it is the only species of the genus. 

 Traced by Lieut. Dittrich into Queensland. The tree is one of the 

 largest among its congeners and particularly valuable for arid sandy 

 regions. The wood is exceedingly hard, and resists the attacks of 

 termites and also decay ; the stem-wood is straight and easily fissile 

 [Rev. H. Kempe]. Dromedaries delight in getting the branchlets of 

 this tree for food [E. Giles]. It may be desirable to resort to 

 mechanical pollination for securing supplies of seeds well fitted to 

 germinate. 



Casuarina distyla, Ventenat. 



Extra-tropical Australia. A shrubby species, well adapted for 

 fixing the sand-drifts of sea-coasts. All Casuarinas can be pollarded 

 for cattle-fodder. 



Casuarina equisetifolia, Forster. (C. litorea, Humph.) 



Eastern Africa, Southern Asia, tropical and sub-tropical Australia, 

 Polynesia. Thrives permanently much better than Eucalyptus 

 globulus in Lower Egypt according to Dr. Schweinfurth. Attains 

 a maximum-height of 150 feet. Splendid for fuel, giving great 

 heat and leaving little ashes. The timber is tough, nicely marked. 

 The tree will live in somewhat saline soil at the edge of the sea. 

 Colonel Campbell-Walker estimates the yield of firewood from this 

 tree as four times as great as the return from any tree of the forests 

 of France. Known to have grown in 10 years to a height of 80 feet, 

 but then only with a comparatively slender stem [Blechyndon]. 

 In India the wood is much used as fuel for railway-locomotives ; the 

 tree is there also extensively employed to reclaim sand-land of the 

 coast, it succeeding in growth down to high water-mark, throwing 

 often out decumbent branches, which develop roots, further to fix 

 the sand and to throw up independent shoots [Dr. Bidie]. It yields 

 a lasting wood for piles of jetties, for posts and for underground- 

 work, and is much used for knees of boats and for tool handles 

 [Wilcox] ; it is very heavy and singularly dark. The cost of rais- 

 ing Casuarinas in India has been from 4 to 10 per acre, and the 

 return, after only eight years, 13 to 32. 



Casuarina Fraseriana, Miquel. 



South- Western Australia. A middle-sized tree ; the wood easily 

 split into shingles. The best furniture-wood of South- Western 

 Australia, as it does not rend. This tree is adapted even for sterile 

 heath-land. 



