The oasis is under intensive cultivation (see fig. 1). There are about 300 gardens, each bounded by mud walls, and often separated by picturesque, meandering lanes. The plant life, almost wholly introduced, is luxuriant. In some gardens the effect is tropical, where vines reach from tree to tree, making a canopy nearly sun-proof and separating the spreading tops of the palms from the wealth of shrubbery and herbaceous plants beneath. First among the trees of the gardens, in numbers as well as in economic importance, is the date palm, of which there are said to be about 30,000. Although this is small in comparison to the number of date palms at Ouargla, Touggourt, or the Oued Rirh, the dates are of great importance to the dwellers at Laghouat, where the products of the gardens are almost all consumed. The living tree provides shelter against the intense heat and light of the desert, and the dead leaves constitute an important source of fuel in a land where fuel is extremely hard to obtain. The flesh of the date fruit is eaten by the Arab and the cracked seeds are given to the camels. Without the date a continuous occupancy of a remote oasis by the Arab is clearly impossible. Besides the date palm fruit trees of other kinds are abundant, among them the apricot, fig, mulberry, peach, pear, and orange. The pomegranate and the table grape are also very generally grown. The lowest story of the vegetation of the gardens is composed of garden vegetables, such as artichoke, bean, carrot, melon, pea, potato, squash, and radish. Among the ornamentals one sees roses, asters, and chrysanthemums, and occasionally very luxuriant cannas. One or two parks contain interesting introduced trees and shrubs. We recognized among the trees _Ailanthus_, _Eucalyptus_, umbrella, plane, poplar, pine, cypress, ash, locust, willow, and St. John’s tree. The Barbary fig (_Opuntia ficus indica_) is also common, but does not stray away from the best-watered situations. THE PLAIN. The part of the plain (hamada) studied lies to the west of the oasis, between it and the adjacent hills, Mountains of the Nomads, which are to the west of the pass of the Oued Mzi. Emerging from the oasis, one finds himself on the arid plain, the transition from the one to the other being abrupt. The plain, at first view, with a covering of small stones and pebbles, gives the impression of total barrenness. Not a tree, shrub, or herb appears to hide the bare ground. The mountains are naked rock, while the harsh outline of desert ranges and the distant low sand ridges give no evidence of plant life. But a closer examination of plain, dune, and mountains reveals the presence either of living forms or of the dried remains of plants of a preceding moist season, in numbers and in kinds not at first suspected.