Distribution. It is practically a New South Wales tree. It is, however, found in Gippsland, and comes north, along the Southern Coast Districts, west as far as the Dividing Range, to Port Jackson. I do not call to mind a locality for it north of Sydney. In some of the suburbs of Sydney it is common enough, e.g., in Strathfield, Homebush, and Druitt Town, and thence across to the Illawarra Railway Line, and so south. Reference to Plate.-A. Leaf showing venation; B. Cluster of fruits showing characteristic occurrence in threes; c. Quadrangular fruit which is an exceptional shape. No. 28. TUFTED HAIR GRASS (Deschampsia cæspitosa, Beauv.) Vernacular Names.-"Tufted Hair Grass" is a name under which it is known in England and the United States, and as we have not fixed on a name we may perhaps follow the above designation. Botanical Name-Deschampsia, after M. H. Deschamps, a French chemist (naturalist), who accompanied La Perouse's disastrous expedition. Cespitosa, a Latin adjective derived from cæspes, a turf or sod. Synonym.-Aira cæspitosa, Linn., the name under which it will be found in Mueller's Census. Botanical Description (Flora Australiensis, vii, 587).—A tall perennial, forming large dense tufts. Leares stiff, narrow, usually rough on the upper surface, flat or convolute when dry. Stems attaining 2 feet to 4 feet, although sometimes much shorter. Panicle 4 inches to near 1 foot long; at first rather dense, spreading with capillary branches when fully out. Outer glumes 14 to near 2 lines long, the flowering ones not exceding them; truncate and 4-toothed; the awns very slender, scarcely or not at all twisted at the base, and usually shorter than the glumes themselves. Value as a Fodder.-This is one of the tussocky grasses, and is not of high forage value-in fact, in many English works on the subject careful directions are given to show how the grass may be got rid of. We may bear in mind that English meadows are of a different character to our own, and some even of our nutritious tussocky grasses would not be appreciated because of their appearance alone. For instance, Sinclair, Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, says: "The above details prove the innutritious nature of this grass; but even if it had greater nutritive powers, the extreme coarseness of the foliage would render it unfit for cultivation. Cattle sometimes crop the ends of the young leaves, but in all the instances that have come under my observation it appeared to be from supreme necessity. The only point to be considered here, therefore, is how to overcome or destroy it on soils where it has got possession. It delights in the moist clayey soils, where the water stagnates, but is found in almost every kind of soil, from the dry sandy heath to the bog." Again, Sowerby, English Botany: "This grass, according to Parnell, has a most unsightly appearance in meadow-pastures and parks, as it grows into large tufts, and forms irregularities on the surface which are termed by farmers rough cups' or 'hossacks,' and are difficult to get rid of. From the extreme roughness and coarseness of the leaves, cattle seldom touch it, and as it contains but little nutritious matter, it is not worth the attention of the agriculturist. It is a sure indication, wherever found on the farm, that the land wants under-draining, without which no cutting it out will destroy it; but the efficiency of the drainage, where it occurs, is seen by its dying away and scattering the fields with its turned up rough bunches of dried leaves." Dr. George Vasey, speaking of it in the United States, says: "It is one of the common bunch grasses which afford pasturage to cattle and horses. It grows in bunches, which are firmly rooted. Its culms are too light for hay-making, but the abundant root-leaves may make it valuable for pasturage, especially in the arid districts.” Baron von Mueller, quoting Stirling, remarks that it is a rough foddergrass, best utilised for laying dry and moist meadows, and that it affords a fair pasturage if periodically burnt down. This opinion of its value, as far as Australia is concerned, is probably the correct one; but as so few observations have been recorded in regard to it in Australia, perhaps our pastoralists on and near the Australian Alps will send notes on the grass now that attention has been drawn to it. It is true the same species is found in Europe, but it is quite possible that our Australian plants differ in forage value from those of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of my specimens have been nipped by grazing animals. Other uses.-Door-mats are sometimes made of the hay by cottagers in Scotland. I wish to draw attention to the highly ornamental character of this grass when in flower. Its spikelets are of a beautiful silvery gray, and are of almost metallic lustre. They vary somewhat in size and tint, and the panicles are well worthy of being gathered for decorative purposes. Habitat and Range. This grass is rather common on the Australian Alps at an elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 feet. It is also found at Boggy Plains, near Bredbo River. It is found in damp, cold localities in the southern ranges, but as its precise northern limit in this Colony is not ascertained, correspondence on the subject is invited. It is very common in Tasmania, and is also found in Victoria and South Australia. Outside Australia, it is found in Europe, Asia, and America, also in New Zealand and Fuegia, but never in warm climates. Reference to Plate.-A. spikelet showing fine dorsal awn attached below the middle of the flowering glumes, one flowering glume close above the empty glumes and the other raised on a stipes. Flowering glumes truncate and four-toothed. Concerning Hill Top. BY J. H. MAIDEN, HILL TOP! I daresay there are numbers of Hill Tops in New South Wales, but the one to which I refer is on the Southern Line, 69 miles from Sydney, and consequently 3 miles on the Sydney side of Colo Vale, and 8 miles from Mittagong. I wanted a holiday, and chose Hill Top, mainly because it is a breezy, lonely, unfashionable sort of a place, where one could for a time abandon starched linen and other outward signs of respectability. Here one could readily sally into the woods, accompanied by a sharp tomahawk and coil of Manilla rope, to cultivate a closer acquaintance with the "everlasting gumtrees" of these parts. Sterile Hill Top is hardly the place a Hunter River farmer would select for the purpose of laying out a lucerne paddock, or a saw-miller (from the North Coast or anywhere else), would choose with the view of making his fortune. It is just typical of much of our barren, rocky, sandstone country, but for pure, exhilarating mountain air it ranks favourably amongst the many sanatoria of New South Wales. As regards the gullies, one could readily imagine oneself in a gully near Sydney, or in the Blue Mountains. January is in most years a bad month for the botanist, but the January of 1896 will not readily be forgotten, what with its unparalleled heat-waves and mountain-mists. I went up on the 6th January, and having started early on the morning of the even more terrible 13th on a plant-hunting expedition, was almost prostrated by the heat, and could scarcely carry home the plants I had won by much labour. The season prior to this was bad enough from the point of view of the botanist. I remember nothing like it. Last winter was abnormally severe, and the plants killed (at all events above ground) by the frost formed excellent fuel for the bush fires that devastated the land. What then sprang up from the roots had to pass through the ordeal of the heat-waves of January, 1896, and more bush-fires. Surely there can be no more hardly-used, non-complaining vegetation than that of New South Wales. I never go on a holiday without a few plant-presses and a note-book. Some of my notes are of strictly botanical interest, and I will not trouble the readers of the Gazette with them, but some of the more general notes may help my young friends in working out the botany of the district. My incomplete observations are not to be looked upon as the flora of the district, but they may set country residents with botanical tastes to work to recapitulate the plants of their neighbourhood, work the importance of which can hardly be over-estimated. It is surprising of what a small percentage of |