184 A CONTRIBUTION TO, ETC. 



The vast importance of this subject should induce agriculturists 

 to direct their attention to the best method of extirpating these 

 noxious weeds. I am not aware that the melilot has been much 

 noticed in England, for a late writer simply remarks that M. 

 arvensis is found in waste places in Cambridgeshire ; and doubt- 

 less, if it did appear too frequently in the wheat fields of the 

 mother country, the improved system of farming, and the pro- 

 verbial diligence of the British agriculturist, would soon devise 

 some means to remedy the evil. It would be an indivious task 

 to point out those farms in the colony which are becoming almost 

 valueless from the prevalence ofmelilot, or to mention particularly 

 those cultivators whose wheat is regarded with suspicion, from 

 the mixture of noxious or unpleasant weeds with it ; but I think 

 that the cultivation of wheat is a matter so seriously affecting 

 the interests of the whole community, that the Agricultural 

 Society would confer a benefit on the colony by inquiring 

 whether something may not be done for those districts in which 

 the melilot has spread. 



. M. parvifora may be readily known by its peculiar scent, but the 

 following is the general description : "Stem ascending, branches spreading, ; 

 lower leaflets obovate-roundish, entire ; upper ones oblong, obsoletely toothed ; 

 stipulas. linear setaceous ; flowers very minute, in dense spikes; teeth of calyx 

 nearly equal, broad ; wings about equal in length to the vexillum and carina ; 

 legume ovate, rugged from lacunae, yellowish green, one-seeded ; seeds ovoid, 

 adhering to the legume, bay coloured, rugged from dots." This plant is said 

 to be indigenous in Barbary, Italy, and France, but it seems to spread very 

 rapidly, wherever the climate is similar to that of Southern Europe. Aus- 

 tralia is well adapted to its growth, and unless means be devised to prevent 

 the evil, it will become an intolerable nuisance in this colony. 



THE BOTANY OF ASH ISLAND, 



(1862.) 



A SH Island, in the River Hunter, contains about 3000 acres of 



]and. Parts of it are low and marshy, and hence in addition 



to jEyiccras frngrans and Avicennia tomentosa, which grow in the 



salt water, and are popularly termed "Mangroves," many Cheno- 



podiaceous plants abound in it, of which the genera Atriplex, 



