FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 



61 



Crotalaria juncea, Linne. 



The Sunn-Hemp. Indigenous to South Asia, and also widely- 

 dispersed through tropical Australia. An annual herb, rising 

 under favourable circumstances to a height of 10 feet. In 

 our colony Sunn can only be cultivated in the warmest and 

 moistest localities. It comes in four or five months to 

 maturity. The plant can also be grown as a fodder-herb for 

 cattle. It requires rich friable soil. If a superior soft fibre 

 is desii-ed, then the plant is pulled while in flower; if strength 

 is the object, then the plant is left standing until it has 

 almost ripened its seeds. The steeping process occupies about 

 three days. For the purpose of obtaining branchless stems it 

 is sown closely. 



Crotalaria retusa, Linne. 



Asia, America and Australia within the tropics. A perennial 

 herb. Its fibre resembles that of C. juncea, and is chiefly 

 used for ropes and canvas. Others of the multitudinous 

 species of Crotalaria deserve to be tested for their fibres. 



Croton lacciferus, Linne. 



Ceylon, up to 3000 feet. Suitable for the warmer forest- 

 regions here, to obtain from this tree its peculiar exuding 

 lac-resin. 



Crozophora tinctoria, Necker. 



South Europe, North Africa and Orient. An annual herb. 

 The turnsole-dye is prepared by exposure of the juice to the 

 air, or by treating it with ammonia. 



Gryptomeria Japonica, Don. 



Japan and Northern China. A slender evergreen tree, 100 

 feet high. It requires forest-valleys for successful growth. 

 The wood is compact, very white, soft and easy to work. 

 In the Azores preferred even to the Finns Haleppensis for 

 timber culture, on accoimt of its still more rapid growth in 

 that insular clime. 



Cucumis cicatrisatus, Stocks. 



Scinde, where it is called "Wungee." The edible ovate fruit 

 is about 6 inches long. 



Cucumis CitrulluSj Seringe. {Citrullus vulgaris, Schraeder.) 

 Mediterranean regions. The Water-Melon. It is simply- 

 mentioned here, to indicate the desirability of naturalising it 

 in the interior-deserts, where no Cucurbita and only a single 

 kind of edible Cucumis (C. acidus, Jacquin), with fruits not 

 larger than a pigeon's egg, is indigenous. In South African 

 deserts it has become spontaneously established, and retained 

 the characters of the cultivated fruit. 



