162 



SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



Phleum pratense, Linne.* 



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-gi-ass. It should 

 enter largely into any mixture of grasses for permanent 

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

 This grass and perhaps more yet the allied Phleum alpinum, 

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

 For hay it requires mo^ving in a young stage. The seed is 

 copiously yielded and well-retained. The gi-eatest advantage 

 from this grass arises, according to Langethal, when it is 

 grown along with clovers. It thrives even better on sandy 

 meadows than on calcareous soil ; it will prosper on poorer 

 ground than Alopecurus pratensis ; the latter furnishes its full 

 yield only in the fourth year, whereas the Phleum already in 

 the second. The Timothy dries more quickly for hay and 

 the seeds are gathered more easil}^, but it vegetates later, is 

 of harder consistence and yields less in the season after the 

 first cut. 



Phoenix dactylifera, Linne.* 



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

 This noble palm attains finally a height of 80, exceptionally 

 120 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 utilise 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 afibrd in time to come a real 

 boon, although it might be gro^vn 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. In Egypt as many as 4 cwt. of dates 

 have been harvested in one season from a single Date-Palm. 

 Many varieties of Dates exist, differing in shape, size and 

 colour of the fruit ; those of Gomera are large and contain 

 no seed. The unexpanded flower-bunches can be used for 

 palm-cabbage, the fibre of the leaf-stalks for cordage. The 

 town Elclie in Spain is surrounded by a 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 



