The Forage Plants of Australia: (with illustrations)

The illustrations and descriptive matter contained in this book first appeared in the columns of the Town and Country Journal, that being the first attempt ever made, through the Australian press, to systematically illustrate the plants of economic value indigenous to this country.

About eighteen months after this work was taken in hand, other persons followed up the subject, which proved to the author that his idea was a well conceived one. The subject of Australian economic products has occupied the attention of the author for the past fifteen years, and he has written many papers on the subject but he always found it difficult to make the descriptions clear to the general public. The only way he saw out of the difficulty was to have drawings made of the plants, and have them engraved; for no matter how full a written description is given of a plant, it cannot give such a clear idea to a practical mind as an engraving can.

The author felt convinced that the time was opportune for making a start to economic products by illustrations and and descriptions, bring them within the field of practical utility; and this is borne out by many scientific and practical persons he has come in contact with. That this work has already done a great amount of good, by making pastoralists, farmers, and stockmen more familiar with Australian economic products, has been abundantly proved by the number of complimentary letters received from all parts of Australia whilst the work was in progress.

Some of the illustrations and descriptions have been republished in the American Press, and inquiries have been freely made as to where seeds of of the plants herein described could be obtained, not only for sowing in places on this continent, where the plants have been gradually eaten out through overstocking, but from many America, Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and India also, which is a convincing proof that much interest has been awakened in these valuable forage plants. There is no gainsaying the fact that ever since pastoral settlement took place there has been a gradual decrease of many valuable salinous and other forage plants from the central plains of the continent, partly through overstocking and partly through the constnt trampling of the animals' hoofs, which has also made the surface soil so hard that seeds with difficulty germinate.