State Agricultural Society. 347 



THE EUCALYPTUS. 



In the supplement to The Colonies, of twenty-eighth ultimo, an extract 

 was given from the Daily Telegraph, referring to the supposed sanitary 

 influences of the eucalyptus, as set forth in a paper read before the 

 French Academy of Science, by M. Gimbert, in which that gentleman 

 ascribes to this tree the valuable power of destroying or counteract- 

 ing the malarious elements in any situation where it may be introduced. 

 However this may be, it is a well-known fact that in the southern and 

 extra tropical regions of Australia, the extensive swamps which occur 

 in some localities are remarkably free from miasmas of all kinds. 

 Whether this is owing to the influence of the eucalyjjtus acting a3 a 

 febrifuge or not, is rather uncertain, as some of the most extensive 

 swamps, in both South Australia and Victoria, are situated far away 

 from any l 'gum trees," the adjacent trees being either melaleuca, or 

 casuarina, and banksia. Nevertheless, dwellings surrounded by or 

 amidst eucalyptus forests, are alwaj r s healthy, and their aromatic per- 

 fume is pleasant and refreshing, and when borne by the land breeze 

 over the ocean, is welcomed as a grateful odor by newly arrived voy- 

 agers. 



The genus eucalyptus belongs, in botany, to the great natural order 

 of the myrtaceas, and comprises a vast variety of shrubs and trees, 

 attaining sometimes a gigantic size (over two hundred feet in altitude), 

 and secreting, more or less, resinous gums, whence their common appel- 

 lation of " gum trees." Dr. Bentham, in his " Flora Australiensis," 

 enumerates and gives descriptions of no less than one hundred and 

 thirty-five species of true eucalyptus, which may be divided into two 

 classes, viz: those having a smooth bark, which is shed annually in long 

 strips, and those which possess a rough, fixed bark. The former are 

 generally known amongst the Australian colonists as "gum trees," 

 whilst the latter are distinguished, such as "iron bark," "stringy bark," 

 " box," " woolly butt," etc. With the exception of two species extend- 

 ing to the Island of Timor, and, perhaps, two or three somewhat doubt- 

 ful species from New Guinea and the Indian Archipelago, the eucalypti 

 are all indigenous to Australia, where they constitute the most extensive 

 proportion of the forest vegetation. The vast size, both in girth and 

 height, of some of the species, their great abundance (occurring both 

 in dense forests, and scattered over the country in groups of park-like 

 aspect), as well as the value of their timber and other products, cause 

 them to be well known to all residents in the Australian colonies under 

 a variety of local names, such as " blue," " red," and "white" gum, 

 "peppermint," " turpentine," "stringy bark," and others too numerous 

 to specify. Like most of the native trees peculiar to Australia, all the 

 species of eucalyptus are evergreen, and constitute a peculiar feature in 

 the antipodean landscape. The extraordinary difference in the aspect 

 and character of the foliage of many of the species at different stages 



