io8 GLIMPSES IXTO PLANT-LIFE 



number of trees may alter the climate to a healthy 

 condition. 



Remarkable results have been obtained b)' plant- 

 ing the Australian gum-tree, Eucalyptus globnlus ; 

 it thrives well in malarious places, and at once 

 produces a marked h}'gienic change in the air. A 

 Monsieur Gimbert relates that " A farm some 

 twent}' miles from Algiers was noted for its pesti- 

 lential air, and in the spring of 1867, 13,000 

 eucalyptus trees were planted there, since which 

 time not a single case of fever has occurred. 



"The gum-tree grows rapidly and absorbs as 

 much as ten times its weight of water from the 

 soil, and emits camphoraceous antiseptic vapour 

 from its leaves. It is therefore often called the 

 fever-destroying tree." 



Experiments have been made to tr}^ and find 

 out how much moisture is really given out by 

 leaves. It was found that a sunflower three and a 

 half feet high, with a leaf expanse of over five 

 thousand inches, exhaled one pint of liquid in the 

 course of the da}-. 



No wonder, therefore, that trees tend to make 

 the air damp. 



