352 

 Phleum pratense, L.* 



The Catstail or Timothy Grass. Europe, North Africa, 

 North and Middle Asia. One of the most valuable of all 

 perennial fodder-grasses. Its production of early spring- 

 herbage is superior to that of the Cocksfoot-grass. It should 

 enter largely into any mixture of grasses for permanent 

 pasturage. It will live also on moist and cold clay-ground. 

 This grass and perhaps more yet the allied Phleum alpinwn, 

 L., are deserving of an extensive transfer to our moory Alps. 

 For hay it requires mowing in a young stage. The seed is 

 copiously yielded and well retained. 



Phoenix dactylifera, L.* 



The Date-Palm. North Africa, also inland ; Arabia, Persia. 

 This noble palm attains finally a height of 80 feet. It is 

 unisexual and of longevity: — "Trees of from 100 to 200 

 years old continue to produce their annual crop of dates." 

 Though from the sap sugar or palm wine can be obtained, 

 and from the leaves hats, mats and similar articles can be 

 manufactured, we here would utilize this palm beyond scenic 

 garden ornamentation only for its fruits. It is in the oases 

 of our desert-tracts, swept by burning winds, where the 

 Date-palm would afford in time to come a real boon, although 

 it might be grown also in the valleys of our mountains and 

 in any part of our lowlands. Several bunches of flowers are 

 formed in a season, each producing often as many as 200 

 dates. Many varieties of dates exist, differing in shape, 

 size and color of the fruit ; those of G-omera are large and 

 contain no seed. The unexpanded flower-bunches can be 

 used for palm-cabbage ; the fibre of the leaf-stalks for cor- 

 dage. The town Elche in Spain is surrounded by planted 

 forest of about 80,000 Date-palms, and the sale of leaves for 

 decorative purposes produces irrespective of the value of 

 the date-fruits a considerable income to the town, and so it 

 is at Alicante. As far north as the Gulf of Genoa exists 

 also a date-forest. The ease, with which this palm grows 

 from seeds, affords facility in adapted climes to imitate these 

 examples, and we certainly ought to follow them in all parts 

 of Australia. 



