147 



It seems strange that the American Consul at Rome, shc^uld 

 take an altogether different view of the subject. In his Consular 

 Report for 1894, he says : " In Italy, although the newspapers had 

 persuaded everyone that the farm of the Tres Fontane, near Rome, 

 had become healthful by means of the Eucalypti, it proved a disagree- 

 able surprise to learn of a sudden outbreak of malaria in 1882 that 

 caused much sickness among the farm hands, while the rest of the 

 Campagna remained perfectly healthy .... Dr. Montechiare, a 

 practising physician of Rome, who for many years was physician to 

 the penal colony at Tres Fontane, tells me that his experience 

 justifies him in declaring that no beneficial results against malaria 

 has been derived from the planting of the Eucalypts." 



Mr. A. J. McClatchie. M.A., in a Bulletin published by the 

 Bureau of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 gives a few reasons why such a property has been attributed to the 

 Eucalypts and though it does not decide the question one way or the 

 other it may be worth while to repeat them here. " It is probable that 

 a great part of the change in the sanitary condition of those places, 

 said to have been benefited by Eucalypts, has been due to other 

 causes, such as the making of drainage ditches, etc., and this will 

 partially account for the conflicting opinions on the subject. When, 

 however, the nature and habit of the trees are considered, it is entire- 

 ly reasonable to believe that, to a certain extent, they beneficially 

 affect the atmosphere in the region of their growth. The grounds for 

 this belief are: First, their great capacity for absorbing moisture from 

 the soil, and thus reducing the quantity of stagnant water in the 

 ground at their roots ; second, their corresponding power of giving 

 off fresh from their foliage, the water thus taken up by their roots; 

 third, exhalation from their leaves and other parts, of volatile oils, 

 which affect the climate not only directly but by changing the oxygen 

 of the atmosphere to ozone; fourth, the purification of germ-infested 

 matter by the foliage dropped upon the ground or in pools of 

 standing water. From the combined action of these four characteris- 

 tics it seems reasonable to believe that the trees would be beneficial 

 to many climates." 



Mr. Ridley did not believe for an instant that, in so far as the 

 Straits and Federated Malay States were concerned, the Eucalypts 

 would influence climatic conditions in any way whatever. We may 

 take it, however, that, unless the Eucalypts thrive exceedingly well 

 and are planted in the form of large forests, no benefits can possibly 

 be derived therefrom. It is not to be expected that a few Eucalyptus 

 trees planted in a swamp, would change the whole climatic condi- 

 tions of that swamp just as a few nodules on a leguminous plant 

 cannot be expected to have the effect of enriching a large area in 

 nitrogen, to any appreciable extent. 



Eucalypts in the Botanic Gardens. 



The earliest record of the introduction of Eucalypts to the 

 Botanic Gardens, Singapore was on January 4th, 1876, or practically 



