1893.] ^* [Pepper. 



and kept trimmed, so as to afford protection by the branches sprouting 

 from their mutilated stumps ajicainst wind passing between them and the 

 higher trunks of the rows left uncut. 



Finally, ashes of the eucalypti contain more 

 .'hes'in^ otasii potasli than those of most European or North Amer- 

 . lean trees. 

 A resource as ^ov kindling and firewood, as fully described fur- 



ther on, most eucalypti offer no advantages, although 

 serviceable when other woods are scarce and dear, and constituting a 

 precious resource in these colonies against the ever-increasing price of 

 fuel.* 



Necessary limi- Naturally eucalypti have their limitations, as has 



tations to their every useful plant in nature, and it is a well-known 

 ciimatoiogicai fact that they have not materially improved the uu- 



and hygienic ad- favorable conditions of disease-breeding soil and atmos- 

 ^ " phere in the oases, where the former remains undrained 



and indeed iindrainable, except at the sacrifice of fruitful vegetation, lost 

 as are these favored spots in the immense desert of ever-heated sands. 

 Again, even the most extensive forests of eucalypti cannot neutralize the 

 poison of very large swamps or of tlatlands inundated only throughout the 

 winter, as is the bottom land containing Lake Fetzara, already men- 

 tioned, where the trees cannot be planted with success, either on account 

 of the excessive moisture of the ground or by reason of iis brackishness 

 resulting from the great evaporation.! 



It would, indeed, be expecting too much from eucalypti to count upon 

 their counteracting in Northern xifrica all the evil influences at work in 

 many parts, and which in other countries they have been vainly expected 

 to overcome. 



The Italian reports are not generally favorable to 



Italian reports , . , . ■, . . . , . i 



conflicting. eucalypti, nothmg decisive, it seems, havmg been 



ascertained as to their superiority over all other trees 

 in rendering less unhealthy the immense swamps of the Roman Cam- 

 pagna. It must be conceded that the climate of Italy is less favorable to 

 these trees than that of the Algerian and Tunisian coast regions. How- 

 ever, as noted by De Pielra Santa,:): "Malaria remains prevalent and 



* Mr. E. Lambert, before quoted, claims other special advantages for the eucalypti, such 

 as their immunity from the mandibles of the locusts, who devour other vegetation and 

 even linen ; and he mentions the protection their shade would afltbrd to the thrush, black 

 birds and other locust-eating birds if these trees were more extensively grown in the 

 barren i>lains. He also claims that their foliage and bloom would feed the honey bee, as 

 iu Australia, whereas apiculture is now generally confined to the mountains, which are 

 better wooded and less parched in summer, when, in spite of the heat, the insects remain 

 active in this climate. 



t " Eu. restrata lives in water containing as much as 1 per cent, of chloride of sodium, 

 but with as much as 1.50 per cent, good results are rare " (Dr. Trabut, Professor of Na- 

 tural History at School of Medicine of Algiers). 



t Pietra Santa, "Assainissement de la Campagne Romaine," Journal d'Hygcine, 1881- 

 1883. Also Genie Civil, May, 18S3, Vol. iii, p. 312. 



