Useful Native Plants of Australia. By J. H. Maiden. (Trtibner.)
—Australian vegetation is subjected to such trying ordeals in the shape of droughts, that the estimate generally formed of its value is rather low. But though Australia is poor as a continent, it yet possesses plenty of useful timber, some fruits, and some valuable
medicinal plants. The properties of these plants cannot be said to have been properly examined, though their value is sufficiently indicated by such as the alstonia, atherosperma, duboisia, eucalypti, and euphorbia. The Duboisia Hopwoodii is said to resemble the " coca " of the South Americans in its powerful stimulating qualities. The value of the eucalypti has yet to be fully appreciated. Some varieties make good woods, others have oil. The timber of Australia contains, we are aware, valuable hard woods, but woods of economical use seem uncertain and little known. The great difficulty seems to be the proper seasoning of these woods, without which, indeed, they are simply valueless. Australians will have to be very careful about their forests, the destruction of which by fires and cutting down is not replaced naturally in a climate where the supply of water is so precarious. Australia rejoices in the "giant gum," the tallest of all trees; it seems, indeed, to have claims as a useful wood. Mr. Maiden's book is of a somewhat encyclopaedic nature, some 800 pp., and should interest the Australians in paying more attention to their useful plants, and, in spite of Mr. Maiden's opinion, to the drugs of the natives. They would also be interested in this careful compilation of timber "test" statistics, and the difficulties which stock-raisers have to contend with. We should like to know from Mr. Maiden how the imported plants prosper, for they must form an important part of Australian agriculture.
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