Useful Plants into Victoria. 103 



Porter even observes that it may be cultivated on soil of so 

 moderate fertility that it woidd often be difficult to procure from 

 it any other harvest .* 



A double interest attaches itself to the culture of the various 

 kinds of Rhubarb, their roots being of medicinal value, and their 

 leafstalks offering an wholesome acidulous vegetable. If culti- 

 vated for its root, dry shady mountain localities ought to be 

 chosen. One species (Rheum nobile) lately discovered in the 

 Indian Highlands belongs to the grandest objects of vegetation 

 imaginable. 



The Chinese esteem as potherbs — Cacalia procumbens, Ama- 

 ranthus polygamus, the sweet root (Simn Sisarum), and Aralia 

 edulis, the root of the latter also serving as salad ; and a kind 

 of Cabbage peculiar to that country (Brassica Chinensis) re- 

 mained also yet a desideratum of our gardens. 



The Okro and the red Sorrel of West India (being the fruit 

 of Hibiscus esculentus and Hibiscus Sabdariffa) are to be 

 regarded as culinary acquisitions. 



The cultivation of medicinal plants did not receive hitherto 

 the attention which it justly deserves. It is intended to retain 

 a portion of our Botanic Garden for the cidtiire of those officinal 

 herbs, of which the seeds will be acceptable to the gardens of 

 country practitioners. 



Some of the Cinchonas, or Peruvian bark trees, occur on the 

 slopes of the Andes, under a mean temperature little exceeding 

 that of Port Phillip, and are even ascending to an elevation of 

 10,000 feet, and their introduction to favourable humid spots 

 in this colony will therefore probably not be attended with great 

 difficulty. 



South Europe and the Orient furnish in some sorts of Astra- 

 galus — the Gum Tragacanth (Astragalus Creticus, A. verus, A 

 gummifer). These plants should be secured, being of beauty, of 

 iitility, and of easy cultivation, the officinal Senna-Cassias of 

 Arab, and the handsome Aloe plants of South Africa might well 

 be associated with them. 



The preparation of Arrow-root, Tobacco, and of Opium is 

 probably reserved for later days of the colony. The Manihot, 

 or South American farina (Jatropha Manihot), is cultivated 

 somewhat beyond the tropics. It is, therefore, well deserving a 

 place in our experimental gardens, particularly with the weight 

 of a recommendation, according to which the produce of the 

 Manihot exceeds sixfold that of wheat. 



* G. R. Porter's "Tropical Agriculturist," p. 9. 



