664 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the Cape Colony and Algeria ; the Orange Free State, Southern Europe, 

 notably France and Italy, Brazil, the pampas of South America, 

 Mexico, California, Jamaica, and even India, could have competed. 

 Hence it would be no fiction' to pronounce to-day that the Eucalyptus 

 is the cosmopolitan tree. 



But our subject is interesting to three kinds of observers the 

 economist, or utilitarian, the botanist, and the geologist. Let us ask 

 of each one a free-hand sketch. 



The first, who is a matter-of-fact personage, adduces the economic 

 uses of these gum-trees, as the Eucalypts are frequently called. When 

 freshly cut the wood of these trees is soft, but so full is it of a resinous 

 gum that it soon hardens, and becomes wellnigh imperishable. For 

 ships, and docks, and jetties, it is invaluable. The terrible Teredo 

 navalis, or ship-worm, lets it alone. It is proof also against that fear- 

 ful scourge the termites, or white ant. Hence, in India, eucalyptus- 

 wood is used for the sleepers of the railroads, where it defies the in- 

 sects and the climate. So great is the variety of the eucalypts, that 

 they are provident for nearly every purpose which wood can subserve. 

 The ship-builder, wheelwright, carpenter, coach-maker, and cabinet- 

 makers, are all supplied. Usually the eucalypts are evergreens, and 

 hold tenaciously to their leaves. But they readily shed their bark, 

 as a rule, and in such immense pieces can this be detached that the 

 natives make a rude tent of a single piece. Of many species the bark 

 is serviceable for paper-making. For size no trees can equal these 

 Australian gums in the magnitude of the timber afforded. A plank 

 sent from Victoria, and intended for the London Exhibition, but which 

 arrived too late, sold for 100. It was a clear plank, over 223 feet 

 long, two feet six inches wide, and three inches thick. But, though 

 excellent timber, some of the species are of little worth for fuel. In 

 these the wood burns with such difficulty that it is regarded as spe- 

 cially suited for shingles. 



These gum-trees are the Titans of the race. In the deep ravines 

 of Dandenong, in Victoria, a Eucalyptus amygdalina measured 420 

 feet; while another, on the Black Spur, measured 480 feet, thus over- 

 topping greatly the Pyramid of Cheops and every human achievement, 

 and even beating by 155 feet the famous Sequoia c/igantea (Torrey) 

 (" Keystone State "), the biggest of the " big trees" of the Calaveras 

 grove* Mr. G. W. Robinson found a eucalypt, which, at the height 

 of four feet from the ground, had a girth of 81 feet, or 27 feet di- 

 ameter. It is notable, too, that for amount of timber per acre these 

 gum-trees are unmatchable. We read that, in one of the densest parts 

 of the Mount Macedon state forest, an acre of Eucalyptus Jissilis con- 

 tained forty-two large standing trees and twelve saplings. Many of the 

 largest of these trees w T ere from six to seven feet in diameter four feet 

 from the ground, and were from 200 to 220 feet high. Nor do such 

 altitudes necessarily indicate a very high antiquity. The rapidity of 



