Abstract
AUSTRALIA possesses three main stations for testing the agricultural and horticultural suitability of various kinds of plants from other regions for Australian conditions. Pamphlet No. 114 of the Commonwealth of Australia Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (314 Albert Street, East Melbourne, Victoria), by A. McTaggart and T. B. Paltridge, gives details of some of the useful and outstanding species tested at the Lawes (Queensland) station, which has a sub-tropical climate. Among the outstanding introductions is Stylosanthes guianensis, which appears to be capable of assuming the agricultural role of lucerne (Medicago sativa) under tropical conditions. The variety polia of M. sativa is also suitable. Two kinds of cocksfoot grass, Dactylis glomerata var. hispanica, from southern France, and a strain from Algeria, also appear among the outstanding introductions. Details of the yield of Paspalum scrobiculatum, Urochloa pullulans, Panicum maximum and Rhodes grass are given, and indicate higher potential yields than are obtained from present grassland. Phaseolus lathyroides, a shrubby legume from tropical regions, has been found to behave as a slender twining plant when associated with grasses, and indicates the necessity for imagination and insight when testing the suitability of new plants.
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New Farm Crops for Australia. Nature 151, 445 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151445b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151445b0