EUCALYPTUS TEEES. 159 



easier, and no information whatsoever of their char- 

 acteristics has been gained. But if we wish to refer 

 to any of the many hundred cfther species of Panicum, 

 in what way are we to express ourselves if even their 

 vernacular names could be collected from at least a 

 dozen of languages, and impressed on any one's mem- 

 ory ? They are, as may readily be imagined, very 

 different indeed in their special nutritiveness, degree 

 of endurance, and length of life. Of one hundred and 

 forty species of Bromus only one is the Prairie Grass, 

 which has attained already a great celebrity as a pas- 

 ture grass naturalized in this country ; and it is only 

 one other Bromus, among the many nutritious kinds, 

 which carries the palm as the most fattening fod- 

 der-grass for cold, marshy pastures, and gradually, 

 through depasturing, suppresses completely all other 

 grasses and weeds; so it is proved on the marsh- 

 lands of Oldenburg. This Bromus (B. secalinus), as 

 far as I am cognizant, is nowhere as yet economically 

 cultivated in Victoria. 



Nothing would be easier than to commence dissem- 

 inating a number of the best grasses in addition to 

 those already here ; for instance, the Canadian Rice- 

 Grass (Hydropyrum esculentum) for our swamp-lands. 

 Their nutritive value must be tested by analysis and 

 other experiments, just like that of the Saltbushes of 

 the Murray Flats. Hence ample scope for the exer- 

 tions of science also in this direction. 



In Cotta's celebrated publishing establishment at 

 Stuttgart a most useful work is issued by my friend. 

 Prof. Noerdlinger, on the structure of timber of vari- 

 ous kinds, illustrated by microscopic sections of the 

 wood itself; for |;h9 la^tter fascicles I furnished some 



