170 



In Yon Mueller's valuable treatise "Select Extra- Tropical Plants," he 

 describes several of the species of Atriplex as follows : — 



Atriplex halimoides, Lindley. 



Gregarious over the greater part of the saline desert-interior of Aus- 

 tralia, reaching the south and west coasts. One of the best dwarf spe- 

 cies for salt-bush pastures. More saline and thus less agreeable to sheep 

 also less copiously seeding than A. nummularia. All such plants are 

 readily raised from seeds. Should even in its native places, with other 

 valuable species, be re-disseminated methodically. About 20,000 dried 

 seeds (fruits) go to a pound. A covering of prickly branches will effect 

 protection to the young seedlings against sheep and other pasture-ani- 

 mals. The gregarious occurrence of A. halimoides and A. vesicaria in 

 some wide subsaline tracts of the Australian interior is indicative of the 

 facility with which these two kinds of salt-bushes get even spontaneous- 

 ly disseminated. "Where these plants are to be grown permanently, the 

 soil must of course contain a fair proportion of saline particles, especially 

 chloride, either naturally or artificially. 



Atriplex leptocarpa, F. v. Mueller. 



East-Australia. This is another of the perennial salt-plants, though 

 not a large one, which render many of our dry and sterile tracts valua- 

 ble for sheep pastures. It will bear a great amount of drought, and if 

 not too closely fed down, produce seeds in abundance. 



Atriplex Muelleri, Bentham. 



Interior of Australia, reaching the south and west coasts. Cattle, and 

 especially sheep, are so fond of it that they often browse it to the root. 



Atriplex nummularia, Lindley. 



From Queensland through the desert-tracts to Victoria and South Aus- 

 tralia. One of the tallest, most fattening and wholesome of Australian 

 pastoral salt -bushes, but not so much relished by grazing animals, as 

 some of the smaller species. Sheep and cattle, pastured on salt-bush 

 country, are said to remain not only free from fluke, but to recover from 

 this Uistoma-disease and other allied ailments. Mr. Edward Garwood 

 Alston, of Van Wyks Ylei estate in Carnarvon, aided by Mr. Henry 

 Sandford, of Graaff-Reinet, and President Reitz, of the Orange Free 

 State, has had immense success with A. nummularia and A. halimoides 

 in South Africa, as far as the Transvaal, the origin of the introduction 

 also there having been through Yon Mueller. Even pigs and fowls are 

 fond of these salt-bushes. The withered leaves and seeds afford a natural 

 mulching. 



atripdex semibaccata, R. Brown. 



Extra-tropic Australia. A perennial herb, very much liked by sheep, 

 thus considered among the best of saline herbage of the salt- bush coun- 

 try. Mr. Will Farrar pronounces this herb as wonderful for its pro- 

 ductiveness and its drought- resisting power. Professor Hilgard writes- 

 that in the Tulare district, California, where the soil contains 2 per cent 

 alkali, this plant grew to a height of 8 feet. He knows no other plant 

 that does so well on the same soil. 



