1806.] 5o [Pepper. 



for the numerous uses to which eucalypti are put in Australia, doubtless 

 for want of better wood.* 



Not only is there, generally, no profitable market for 



A small market the wood of eucalypti in Algeria and Tunisia, but 



for the accessory ^^^^^ j^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ undoubtedly important 



products of euca- 

 lypti^ accessory products of these trees. 



From the leaves, twigs and fruits, giving the essen- 

 tial oil, there is still a little profit. For the oil when produced by the 

 colonist the demand is relatively small compared to what it should be, 

 high prices being asked for it by the retail dealers. f As to the tannin, it 

 is not used in Algeria and Tunisia, nor in France, as it is in Spain and 

 Portugal for the tanning of leather ; while the tannin of Mimosfe, or mimo- 

 tannic acid, is recognized as a most efficient aseptic and antiseptic, ren- 

 dering valuable services in therapeutics, and successfully used in diphtheria 

 by Dr. Bourlier, the discoverer, and others, as prepared by C. Brenta, of 

 Algiers. 



Perhaps some choice species of eucalypti, such as Eu. 

 Possibility of marginata, Eu. leucoxylon (the black variety), will re- 

 some choice .si>e- deem the reputation of the trees as a source of pecu- 

 cies being pecu- QJary profit, when grown under the most favorable con- 



llarly profitable ,. . ' ° tt ., 



in the future. dilions and Circumstances. Until now, however, noth- 



ing worth recording has been accomplished with this 



*Ia Australia, as stated by M. Ernest Lambert, ex-Inspector of Forests in Algeria, 

 eucalypti are in general use for manufacturing such implements as pitchforks from 

 young trees two years old, whip handles, the handles of spades, hoes, sledgehammers 

 and other articles of daily use. Three-pronged pitchforks, always relatively dear, are 

 readily procured from the young trees, the stem of which is broken off or cut off and the 

 leaves of which are stripped from the two side branches of such trees, or a branch is 

 pinched so as to distribute the sap as regularly as possible in the three forks thus 

 obtained. At three and four years old the trees make carriage poles or shafts, ladder 

 poles, fence poles and rails, wheel spokes and other articles too numerous to be recapitu- 

 lated here. At five years telegraph poles are obtained, which the above-named author 

 and others affirm to be more durable than pine poles, and not to need to be injected by a 

 preservative substance to enable them to last. The pine poles are only procurable from 

 trees of twenty-five years' growth, during which, say the above-mentioned authors, 

 eucalypti give five fine poles to one tree. For supports in mines eucalypti have also 

 their places well defined, as, indeed, for railway sleepers, five or six of which are to be 

 had from trees of seven or eight years of age. At nine they serve as piles for docks and 

 quays. When cut up at this age they are serviceable for wheel naves, carriage brakes 

 and drays and what not, according to the same panegyrists. 



t This oil is worth about $3 a kilogramme at Grasse, France. The parts of eucalypti 

 employed in its manufacture yield 2 per cent, in weight, while 10,000 kilogrammes of the 

 petals of roses and 700 kilogrammes of those of geranium yield but a kilogramme of these 

 more valuable oils. 



Many products, of doubtful origin, actually used- in perfumery under fanciful names, 

 of supposed Japanese and other origins, seem to have no other merit (when they are not 

 positively oflfensive to the sense of smell) than their supposed scarcity and consequent 

 expensiveness. Eacalyptol, if rare or still supposed to be, would doubtless be sought by 

 the extravagant public as an agreeable exotic perfume. It would have the merit of being 

 a clean product of great virtue for the toilette, which is more than can be said of any of 

 these so-called perfumes— and, united in due proportions with pure white vaseline and 

 good toilette soap, it should be extensively used for toilet purposes. 



