FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 



7 



yield the saccharine fluid, which is so extensively converted 

 into Maple-sugar, each tree yielding two to four lb. a year. 

 The trees can be tapped for very many years in succession, 

 without injury. According to Porcher instances are on 

 record of 33 lbs. of sugar having been obtaiaed from a 

 single tree in one season. The Sugar-Maple is rich in potash, 

 furnishing a large proportion of this article in the United 

 States. The bark is an important constituent in several of 

 the Americon dyes. The tree is particularly recommended 

 for our alpine regions. It bears a massive head of foliage 

 on a slender stem. The autumnal colouring is superb. In 

 the Eastern States of Korth America the Sugar-Maple is 

 regarded as the best tree for shade-avenues. Numerous other 

 Maples exist, among which as the tallest may be mentioned 

 Acer Creticum (L.) of South Europe, forty feet; A. Ijeviga- 

 tum, A. sterculiaceum and A. ^dllosum (Wallich) of Nepal, 

 fifty feet ; A. pictum (Thunb.) of Japan, thirty feet. 



Achillea Millefolium, Linne. 



Yarrow or Millfoil. Europe, Northern Asia and North 

 America. A perennial medicinal herb of considerable astrin- 

 gency, pervaded with essential oil, containing also a bitter 

 principle (Achillein) and a peculiar acid, which takes its 

 name from the generic appellation of the plant. 



Achillea moschata, Wulfen. 



Alps of Europe. The Genipi or Iva of the alpine inha- 

 bitants. This perennial herb ought to be transferred to our 

 snowy mountains. With the allied A. nana (L.) and A. 

 atrata (L,), it enters as a component into the aromatic 

 medicinal Swiss tea. Many species of this genus, including 

 the Yarrow, are wholesome to sheep. A. fragrantissima 

 (Reichenbach) is a shrubby species from the deserts of Egypt, 

 valuable for its medicinal flowers. 



Achras sapota, Linne. 



The Sapodilla-Plum of West India and Central Continental 

 America. It is not improbable that this fine evergreen tree 

 would produce its delicious fruit in East Gipps Land within 

 Victorian boundaries, as tall palms and many other plants of 

 tropical type occur there. Moreover Achras Australis, a tree 

 yielding also tolerable good fruit, occurs as far south as 

 Kiama in New South Wales, where the clime is very similar 

 to that of many forest-regions of Victoria. Other sapotaceous 

 trees, producing table-fruit, such as the Lucuma mamosa 

 (the Marmalade-tree), Lucuma Bonplandi, Chrysophyllum 

 Cainito (the Star- Apple), all from West India ; and Lucuma 

 Caimito of Peru might also be subjected to trial-culture in. 



