14 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF. THE 
height of 18 inches. The broad blades are full of sap and remarkably 
nutritious. Hence my determination at once to form a collection of 
grasses in which this one specially valuable alike to the squatter and 
agriculturalist can be seen attaining its proper height and luxuriance. 
The Doub grass (Cynodon dactylon) often erroneously called “ doob ” 
is a native of Bermuda ; and in my opinion ranks next to the Buffalo 
grass (Stenotaphrum glabrum) as a hardy pasture grass for arid climes, 
though as a lawn grass it is inferior, presenting in the winter a brown 
and rusty appearance. I can state from experience however in New 
South Wales and Queensland that where it has been introduced round a 
station hut, horses and cattle when left to feed as they chose, have col- 
lected round it eagerly, refusing, the native grasses in luxuriant growth 
near them so long as a blade of the doub grass remained. As to the 
nutriment contained in these two grasses, there can be no doubt, as 
many squatters across the Murray could testify. Respecting their 
durability the same may be said ; as during seasons of excessive drought, 
when scarcely a blade of them could be seen, so tenacious of life were 
they that when the weather broke they sprang up in rich luxuriance ; 
and when native grasses were totally destroyed by the drought, these 
two species were the only ones that withstood it. An active interchange 
of seeds and plants has been kept up with intercolonial and Foreign 
Botanic Gardens acclimatisation societies, nursery and seed establish- 
ments, from all of which large and valuable additions of choice plants 
and seeds have been received. The vote (£400) placed at my disposal 
for 1874-5 has enabled me to purchase from Melbourne and other 
nurseries many plants entirely new to these Gardens. This vote will I 
trust be supplemented by successive yearly grants, until the world’s flora 
is fairly represented here. 
As I cannot possibly visit many parts of Victoria on account of the 
large amount of work before me, I hope that meaus may be available 
for me to send a qualified collector to places where I believe many new 
and beautiful plants are to be found. For instance, I understand that 
Wilson’s Promontory and many parts of Gippsland have never been 
botanically explored, and a visit to those parts would be amply repaid 
by the new specimens discovered. 
Considering the importance of the Philadelphian International Exhi- 
bition I have prepared so far as my limited means allowed, a collection 
of fibres, fancy woods various kinds of paper made from native pro- 
ducts, gums resins &c. from indigenous trees for exhibition. I trust 
that though the notice given is short the woods will be sufficiently 
seasoned to take the polish they are capable of receiving, and which 
