236 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



E. Durand. In behalf of Capt. Windsor, Dr. Hewston presented 

 a package of the Yerba Buena (or Micromeria Douglassii)^ from 

 Oregon, and read a letter from that gentleman, in which he gives 

 the statements of hunters and Indians affirming the medicinal vir- 

 tues of that plant ; which were also corroborated by Prof. Bolander 

 and Dr. Stout. 



The following communication was read by Mr. Stearns : 



On the Economic Value of certain Australian Forest Trees 

 and their Cultivation in California. 



BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 



Australian forest trees propagated from the seed, with perhaps a few excep- 

 tions, thrive remarkably in California; the climate and soil appear to be 

 nearly or quite as favorable to the growth of these exotic as of the native 

 forest forms. 



In many of the principal towns in this State, especially in and around San 

 Francisco, in the neighboring city of Oakland and adjoining towns on the 

 easterly side of San Francisco bay, fine specimens of many of the Australian 

 forest species are exceedingly numerous. The most popular of these belonging 

 to the genera Acacii and Eucalyptus, have been planted for ornamental and 

 shade purposes ; the light feathery fern-like foliage of some of the Acacias, 

 their gracefulness, beauty and color combined with rapid growth, present so 

 many advantages as to fairly entitle them to popular esteem. Of the Acacias 

 recommended by Dr. Mueller on account of their economic value,* I am not 

 aware of any being cultivated in this State for that object. A. decunens 

 (= A. mollissima) also A. lophantha and some other species, are frequent, and 

 highly prized for ornamental purposes : from twenty to thirty species are 

 enumerated in the catalogues of the principal nurseries 



The many valuable properties of the species mentioned in the footnotes, 

 combined with rapidity of growth, would warrant cultivation on an extensive 

 scale, which if judiciously conducted would be highly advantageous to the 

 State and yield a handsome return upon the capital invested. Mueller says 

 that the wood of A. decurre.vs, popularly known as the " Black Wattle or 

 Silver Wattle," can be used for staves, but its chief use would be to afTord the 

 first shelter, in treeless localities, for raising forests. Its bark rich in tannin, 

 and its gum not dissimilar to Gum Arabic, render this tree also important. 



A. HOMALOPHYLLA, has a "dark brown wood, is much sought for turner's 

 work on account of its solidity and fragrance ; perhaps its most extensive use 

 is in the manufacture of tobacco pipes." 



A. MELANoxYLON " is most Valuable for furniture, railway carriages, boat 

 building, casks, billiard tables, pianofortes (for sound-boards and actions) and 



*A. decurrens, Willd, also A. hoaialophyll.a, Cunn, and A. melanosylon. E. Be. 



