ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 



BULLETIN 



MISCELLANEOUS INFOMATION. 



I -BLUE GUM. 



(Eucalyptm Globulus, Labill.) 



Few plants have been the cause of more disappointment than 



the Blue Gum. This has arisen from excessive trust in it as an 



empirical remedy for an evil without sufificient knowledge of the 



real nature of the evil or what it depended on. 



The Blue Gum is a native of Victoria^ in Australia and of 

 Tasmania. It grows with readiness and rapidity in warm tem- 

 countries but is not adapted to a cooler climate. In its 

 3 form it is often to be seen in our gardens as a decorative 



^^, ^ summer, but can only endure our winter in the warmest 



parts of our South Coast. 



1873 a paper by Mons. Gimbert appeared in the Compies 

 •ct. 6 (pp. 764-5) on the » Sanitary improvements of 



juvenile ; 



in 10 i 6 a paper uy iviuus. 

 rendusior Oct. 6 (pp. lQi-5) on tue ^aux^x^ x^i,x>.,v.^^^v„ __ 

 marshy districts by means of Eucalyptus Globulus. Of this, 

 the following is a translation :— 



" According to documents which come to us on all sides and 

 from the most reliable sources, it appears to be an established 

 fact of Hygiene and Agriculture, that Intermittent tever dis- 

 appears wherever Eucalyptus Globulus prospers. A tree which 

 grows with incredible rapidity, and can absorb in the soil t^n 

 times its own weight of water in twenty-four hours, and diffuses 

 in the atmosphere camphorous antiseptic emanations, mast 

 certainly play a very important P- jn ^ a - -^^^^^^^^^ of 



miasmatic^countries. Thanks to these singular Properties^ i. 

 could pump water directly and rapidly from mar.hy surfaces, 



Cmis^Tst^^^^^^^ 



arise therefrom. These ant'icip:itions, announced m 1869, are 



1375 Wt 4/06 D & S 29 24310 ^ 



