148 THE EXTRA-TROPICAL TREES OF ARRAN.  [Sess. Lxx. 
is, I believe, the only example of this species in Scotland in 
the open air. It is the most beautiful tree in Arran. 
1. Cromla, Corrie.—Planted autumn of 1895; transplanted, 
in 1897. 1905—height, 20 feet; girth, 9 mches at 5 feet. 
It grew very rapidly, and, lest it should be blown down, it 
was twice topped. Flower-buds this year in August. 
IX, Lucalyptus globulus (blue gum).—Victoria and Tas- 
mania. Height, 350 feet. The best Eucalypt oil is made 
from this species. Cattle may taste it—will not do more. 
This is the favourite Eucalypt. It is one of the most notable 
trees in the world, being famed for its rapid growth; great 
size; the excellence of its timber; the large amount of 
ozone generated by its leaves; the antiseptic nature of its 
volatile oil, valuable as a medicine; the great amount of 
moisture absorbed by its roots fitting it for the drying of 
swamps ; the attractiveness when the tree is young of its leaf 
—blue, softened by bloom and diffusing a sweet, pungent odour. 
There is a variety not uncommon. In it the branches part 
from the stem at shorter intervals and are more spreading, 
while the leaves are smaller, lighter in colour, and beautified 
by a more abundant bloom. It is more characteristically a 
“blue gum.” 
The writer this spring (1905) visited Damascus (lat. 
33°; 2300 feet above sea-level), the capital of Syria, and 
bordering on Arabia. Outside of the south-west gate he 
found a wood composed principally of Eucalypts of various 
kinds. To his surprise he noticed that about two-thirds of 
the trees had lost all their leaves—probably many so injured 
that they would not recover. On inquiry he learned that 
the frost of the previous winter had been of extraordinary 
severity, the mercury one night having registered 17° F.— 
15° of frost. He afterwards learned that the temperature 
had at the same time been as low at some parts of the 
Riviera. How strange that in Italy and the south of France 
and at Damascus the cold last winter should have been 
much more severe than in the island of Arran, in Scotland! 
1. Craigandarraich, Tighnabruaich, Kyles of Bute.— 
Planted 1890. The only blue gum in Scotland that sur- 
vived the winter of 1894-5, and even it was cut down to 
within 3 feet of the ground. The Lamlash tree had pre- 
viously been blown down. The minimum temperature that 
