THE EUCALYPTUS IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA. 95 



however, which can not perhaps be dwelt upon too much, and that is 

 the value of this genus of plants as drainers of the soil and purifiers 

 of the atmosphere. This is probably the true reason why so many 

 attempts, more or less successful, have been made to acclimatize the 

 eucalyptus in Southern Europe and even in Great Britain. No doubt, 

 experiments have been stimulated by other causes. The foliage of 

 these trees is, for example, unlike that of any other in our islands. It 

 is pendulous, quivering, and evergreen ; and the peculiar whitish ap- 

 pearance of one side of the leaves due to a fatty or resinous secretion 

 is very characteristic. Till the tree is from three to five years old, 

 the leaves grow horizontally ; but afterward they generally assume 

 a pendent position. Instead of having one of their surfaces toward 

 the sky, and the other toward the earth, they are often placed with 

 their edges in these directions, so that each side is equally exposed 

 to the light. This arrangement may have something to do with the 

 extraordinary quantity of moisture these trees exhale into the at- 

 mosphere. 



The eucalyptus belongs to the natural order 3fyrtacece, and is in- 

 digenous to the temperate parts of Australia (where it goes by the 

 name of stringy-bark, or gum-tree) and Tasmania that is, where the 

 mean temperature does not exceed a range of from 52 to 72"^ Fahr. 

 The foliage is leathery, and almost always characterized by a certain 

 metallic aspect. The leaves are as a rule narrow, and have either a 

 very short and twisted petiole or foot-stalk, or none at all. In Aus- 

 tralia they commonly attain a height of two hundred feet, and in- 

 stances are given in which a height of three hundred and fifty feet 

 has been attained. The flowers are usually pinkish or white, and in 

 the latter case superficially resemble those of the myrtle. Unlike 

 these, however, they are devoid of petals. The fruit contains the 

 seeds seeds so minute, it is said, that from one poimd of those of 

 the variety Globulus more than one hundred and sixty thousand plants 

 could be raised. 



I have always taken a great interest in the eucalyptus, and have 

 grown it near Dublin for several years with considerable success. I 

 have had at one time as many as twenty fine healthy saplings of the 

 species Globulus, of from ten to sixteen feet high, and one which 

 reached to twenty-five feet, and had a stem of twenty-two inches cir- 

 cumference. These were all five years old. But cold is the deadly 

 enemy of the gum-tree ; and, though I had kept mine during four or- 

 dinary Irish winters, I lost them all during the almost Arctic winter 

 of 18T8-'79, I may say, in passing, that I have not been quite dis- 

 couraged, and that I have again several healthy plants making good 

 progress. My interest in the subject has received a new stimulus from 

 a recent experience of eucalypt-culture in the wild plain known as the 

 Campagna of Rome. 



One lovely morning in last October we left our hotel hard by the 



