^"■' ] Hart, Encalypts aboul Creswick and Climes. gi 



1017 



top and bottom of a hill slope do not here differ so much in 

 character. 



Yello\\' Box is common near the lo^^'er parts of Cobbler's and 

 other neighbouring gullies. One paddock on the Ascot road 

 is now occupied mainly by Candlebark, extending to the higher 

 parts of the low hill. With it occurs Casuanna sitherosa. Black 

 Sheoak, a tree which was once commoner in the district. There 

 are also a few Black Wattles, but careful examination shows that 

 these are planted, the few trees remaining being remnants of 

 rows of trees. On the opposite side of the road, across a small 

 creek, a similar but slightly lower hill carries very little besides 

 low, spreading Messmate. There is, of course, a chance in 

 paddocks long in private hands of some artificial alteration, 

 but there is no evident indication of this except in two patches 

 of planted wattles. The extreme north-west end of the 

 Creswick bedrock area carries Yellow Box and Candlebark, 

 each separately predominating in patches, and a few White 

 Sallee also occur. 



Passing then to the north-west across more than five miles 

 of volcanic plain, we reach bedrock hills again in the west end 

 of the parish of Clunes, and the difference in the trees is at once 

 noticeable. The slopes are gentle and the timber of the low 

 and less dense character seen north-west of Creswick. In this 

 West Clunes area are seen E. elcuophora, Long-leaved Box, 

 E. melliodoya. Yellow Box, E. leiicoxylon, Yellow Gum, E. dives. 

 Broad-leaved Peppermint, E. ohliqua. Messmate, E. rostrata. 

 Red Gum, with E. hemiphloia, Grey Box, at least in the 

 northern part. In addition, there are a few trees best referred 

 to E. viniinalis, Manna Gum, and one tree from which I have 

 shown specimens to Mr. P. R. H. St. John, which is a form of 

 E. Consideniana, Yertchuk. Ihis tree occurs on a low rise 

 with Yellow Gum and Yellow Box in a paddock which has 

 been mostly cleared. Red Gum occurs in the valleys, and 

 Yellow Gum rather prefers the lower slopes of the hills and 

 where they meet the valleys and the plains, but it extends also 

 on to higher ground, and the tops of low hills. So far as 

 observed, E. Stuartiana, E. amygdalina, E. rnbida, and E. 

 ovata are absent from this bedrock area, nor have they been 

 noticed further north. 



Northward from here, across some volcanic country, we 

 come to another bedrock area. The slopes are in part gentle, 

 but a considerable valley runs to the north, and is followed 

 by the main road. Some of the gullies entering this valley 

 from the east side are steep-sided. The railway and the main 

 road enter the south-west corner of this area at a crossing 

 marked " 99.49." Near here is a paddock timbered almost 

 purely with Yellow Gum, on a soil probably derived from the 



h 



