10 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



by some old people with a name I cannot spell. I think that 

 magazine writer who was lamenting that our beautiful wild 

 flowers are slowly disappearing, would find most of them 

 represented in the hills of Kentucky. - 

 West Liberty, Ky. 



Growth of Eucalyptus. — In the December number of 

 The American Botanist there appeared an interesting note on 

 the growth of trees in which \/as given the time required for 

 various species to reach a diameter of twelve inches. I would 

 like to add to this list, for comparison, Eucalyptus globulus, 

 which has been so extensively planted in California during 

 recent years as to entirely change the aspect of the country. 

 Investigations carried on by the state forester show that under 

 favorable conditions this tree will reach the diameter of one 

 foot in 10 years, while it takes the catalpa 20, the walnut 56, 

 and the white oak 100 years to reach this size. At this ago 

 the eucalyptus will be about 125 feet high and growing at the 

 rate of 15 feet yearly. In the height of the growing season 

 seedlings have frequently been observed to make an average 

 height growth of six inches a day. The most rapid seedling 

 growth noted was made by a tree which in nine years reached 

 a height of 125 feet and a diameter of 36 inches. The E. 

 globulus is the most rapid growing among the eucalypts, and 

 is without doubt the fastest growing hardwood tree in the 

 world. For this reason it has been more widely planted in 

 California than all other species combined, although at the 

 present time large plantations of E. rostrata and E. tereti- 

 cornis are being made as they furnish timber preferable to 

 globulus for many purposes. Their rate of growth is also 

 very rapid, under favorable circumstances being but slightly 

 less than that of globulus. — IV. Scott Lewis, Los Angeles, 

 Calif. 



