FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 



15 



vulgaris is simultaneously also of American origin, although 

 it is cultivated in the Antilles, and furnishes from thence the 

 main supply of the Barbadoes-Aloe. In East India this 

 species is also seemingly only existing in a cultivated state. 

 Hawortli found the leaves of this and of A. striata softer 

 and more succulent than those of any other Aloe. It is said 

 to be the only species with yellow flowers among those early 

 known. It is also this species only, which Professor Will- 

 komm and Professor Parlatore record as truly wild in Spain 

 and Italy. 



Aloe Zeyheri, Harvey. 



South Africa. A magnificent, very tall species, doubtless 

 valuable like the rest. 



Aloexylon Agallochum, Lom-eiro. 



Cochinchina, on the highest mountains; thus this tree would 

 probably prove hardy here. The precious Aloe-Avood, so 

 famed for its balsamic fragrance and medicinal properties, is 

 derived from this tree. 



Alopecurus bulbosus, Linne. 



Middle and South Europe. An important grass for salt 

 marshes. 



Alopecurus geniculatus, Linn6. 



Europe, Asia, North Africa. A good fodder-grass for swampy 

 ground; easily naturalised. 



Alopecurus pratensis, Linn6. 



Meadow-Foxtail Grass. Europe, North Africa, North and 

 Middle Asia. One of the best of perennial pasture-grasses. 

 Though so extensively cultivated for years in our colony, it 

 is mentioned, for completeness' sake, in this list. It attains 

 to its full perfection only after a few years' growth, as 

 noticed by Sinclair. For this reason, it is not equal to 

 Dactylis glomerata for the purpose of changing crops. 

 Otherwise it is more nutritious than the latter, although the 

 annual return in Britain proved less. Sheep thrive well on 

 it. Sinclair and others found that this grass, when exclu- 

 sively combined with white clover, will support from the 

 second season five ewes and five lambs on an acre of sandy 

 loam. But this grass, to thrive well, needs land not alto- 

 gether dry. In all permanent artificial pastures this Alope- 

 curus should form one of the principal ingredients, because it 

 is so lasting and so nutritive. In our Alpine regions it would 

 also prove prolific, and might convert many places there 

 gradually into summer-runs. It is early-flowering, and likes 

 the presence of lime in the soil. 



