68 



SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



foot-gi^ass. Perennial. One of the best of tall pasture 

 grasses, ada])ted as well for dry as moist soil, thus even avail- 

 able for wet clays. It will live also under the shade of trees 

 in forests. Its yield of fodder is rich and continuous, but its 

 stems are hard. It is already largely cultivated, and has 

 become naturalised. It is generally liked by cattle, unless 

 when by understocking or neglect it has been allowed to 

 become rank. Langethal observes: — "What the Timothy- 

 grass is for the more diy sandy soil, that is the Cocksfoot- 

 grass for more binding soil, and no other (European) grass 

 can be compared to it for copiousness of yield, particularly if 

 the soil contains a fair quantity of lime. J^t grows quickly 

 again after the first cutting and comes early on in the season. 

 The nutritive power of this grass is of the first class." 



Dammara alba, Humph. {D. Orientcdis, Lamb.) 



Agath Dammar. Indian Archipelagus and mainland. A 

 large tree 100 feet high, with a stem of 8 feet in diameter; 

 straiglit and branchless for two-thirds its length. It is of 

 great importance on account of its yield of the transparent 

 Dammar resin, extensively used for varnish. 



Dammara Australis, Lambert.* 



Kauri Pine. North island of New Zealand. This mag-nifi- 

 cent tree measures, under favourable circumstances, 180 feet 

 in height and 17 feet in diameter of stem; the estimated 

 age of such a tree being 700 or 800 years. It furnishes an 

 excellent remarkably durable timber, straight-grained, and 

 much in use for masts, boats, superior furniture, casks, and 

 particularly sought for decks of ships, lasting for the latter 

 purpose twice as long as the deal of many other pines. It is 

 also available for railway break-blocks and for carriages, and 

 regarded as one of the most durable among timber of the 

 conifer?©. Braces, stringers, and tie-beams of wharves re- 

 mained, according to Professor Kirk, for very many years in 

 good order under much traffic. In bridge-building the Kauri 

 timber gave also excellent results ; it can also be used advan- 

 tageously for railway sleepers. Kauri ought to be extensively 

 introduced into oui' denser forests. Auckland alone exports 

 about <£20,000 worth of Kauri timber annually. It is easily 

 worked, and takes a high polish. It yields besides the Kauri 

 resin of commerce, which is largely got from under the stem 

 of the tree. The greatest part is gathered by the Maoris in 

 localities formerly covered with Kauri forests; pieces weigh- 

 ing 100 lbs. have been found in such places. 



Dammara macrophylla, Lindley. 



Santa Cruz Archipelagus. A beautiful tree, 100 feet high, 

 resembling D. alba. 



