Fibres, Fruits, Chemicals, etc.—Are there any plants the fibres of which could be turned to account? Any fruits adapted to human consumption, and are they found in any quantity, or could they be cultivated?
Are there any trees or other plants suitable for drugs or chemicals—bark, leaves, juices, roots? What medicines, narcotics, or stimulants are used by the natives? how are they obtained and how prepared?
Are there any species of useful plants growing wild—coffee, sugar, cotton, vanilla, spices, etc.? Any trees producing gums that might be of commercial value, like gum arabic, gutta-percha, or caoutchouc? Or any whose fruits yield oil, like the cocoa-nut and the olive? Do the natives make use of these juices? What are the processes of extraction and preparation?
Other Vegetation.—When there is an undergrowth, its character should be noticed, and the diseases, if any, to which trees are subject.
Note what other vegetation exists besides that of trees. Are there any plants like the turnip, the potato, the batata, which are useful as foods, or for other purposes? Specimens of any herbs likely to be useful should be obtained, especially if they are used by the natives for medicine, for dyeing, for poison, or other useful purposes.
Sometimes, as in Central and Western Australia, what arboraceous vegetation exists consists mainly of shrubs, the character of which should be noted. Do they hinder locomotion? Are their shoots useful for forage? Are they injurious to horses and cattle?
When there is herbaceous vegetation of any extent, what is its character? Is it tall and coarse and reedy, like much of the African grass? Or such as is found on the prairies and pampas? Or of a troublesome spinifex character, as in Australia? Or of a turf-like character, like the grasses of Europe? What are the components of this kind of vegetation, and how far is it likely to prove useful as fodder? What uses do the natives put it to, either for their animals or for manufactures? Do they use it for making mats or cloth? Are there any plants mixed with it injurious to animals? What is the condition of the grass at different seasons of the year? When is it at its best, its strongest, its densest? Is it liable to be parched up at any season? To what extent is its condition affected by the climate, by rainfall, by irrigation, natural or artificial? Is it easily removed, in order to make way for other cultures? Does it spread into the forest region, and has it any special characteristics there? How does it, as well as other useful vegetation, vary with altitude or other local conditions? Do the products change under different agricultural conditions? e.g., some are poisonous under certain conditions, not others?
Marshes, Deserts, Irrigation.—Note if marshes or peat-bogs, or other special features of the surface exist to any extent, and whether the drainage of marshes is practicable.
Where deserts exist, note their character. Are they sandy, gravelly, rocky, salt? What is the prevailing rock? If the desert character of the land (as is generally the case) seems due to want of water, is there any artificial means likely to be available for supplying that want? Is there any storage of water and irrigation among the natives? and, if so, how is it accomplished? and what are the results? Are there any sources within reach, either above or underground, from whence a supply of water for irrigation purposes could be obtained? Indicate any exceptional defects of quality in the supply of water.
Note if any part of the country is liable to periodical inundations. At what periods of the year do they occur? Are these inundations destructive, or are they utilised for agricultural purposes? Would it be possible to regulate these inundations?