ON THE FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 
88 
recommended, being always more or less acid; and this intro¬ 
duction of sulphuric acid into soils poor in lime would certainly 
be hurtful to growing plants. 
Potash .—Rich horticultural soils contain a considerable 
proportion of potash, which becomes only slowly available for 
vegetation. For certain cultures—more especially that of ferns, 
palms, vines, roses, potatos, &c.—potash manures have a very 
beneficial effect when applied to leaf-mould composts. The most 
rational mode of application is to use carbonate of potash, one of 
the chief ingredients in wood ashes; kainit salt, sulphate of 
potash, or muriate of potash may also be used. Potash is 
retained by the soil, and plants are able to absorb it as they need. 
The proportion to be used must vary according to the require¬ 
ments of the plants cultivated. 
ON THE FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 
By G. H. Adcock, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 
I have often tried to imagine what must have been the feelings 
of Mr. (after Sir Joseph) Banks and his companion, Dr. 
Solander, as they—the first scientific investigators of living 
Australian plants—gazed on the enchanting beauty and rich 
floral profusion which aptly suggested the name “ Botany 
Bay.” Fancy an enthusiastic botanist in the present day find¬ 
ing himself in a new land with a flora so unlike that of any 
other. 
In attempting even a sketch of our splendid flora at the 
request of the ever-courteous Secretary of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society, it is with the consciousness that the subject 
requires an abler pen than mine to do it anything like the 
justice to which it is entitled. 
In the “ Second Systematic Census of Australian Plants,” 
published in 1889, my esteemed friend the late Baron von 
Mueller included among the Vasculares 8,839 indigenous species. 
Of these he gives 7,501 as endemic to continental Australia and 
Tasmania ; so that in round numbers 85 per cent, of our plants 
are exclusively Australian. The area is, roughly speaking, about 
8,000,000 square miles, much of it presenting almost insuperable 
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