H36 TKANSACTIONH AND J'ROCEKDINGS OF TIIK [Sess. Lxvii, 



Besides its timber, it has many other valuable 

 properties. The blue gum has, on the whole, exercised 

 already on regions of the warm temperate zone (where 

 it has been introduced) a greater influence — scenic, 

 industrial, and hygienic — than any other single species of 

 arboreous vegetation ever reared anywhere. Thus (as in 

 Algeria) it has transformed the features of wide, formerly 

 treeless landscapes, has already from its quick growth 

 afforded many places timber and fuel for rapidly increasing 

 settlement, and rendered also many a miasmic locality 

 permanently habitable. To bacteria and other micro- 

 organisms eucalyptus oil proves as fatal as phenic acid. 

 Flesh of any kind is as well preserved by eucalyptus oil as 

 by creosote, while beef sprinkled with it will dry hard 

 without putrefaction. Various parts of the tree yield 

 from 1 lb. 5 oz. to 4 lb. 12 oz. per of pure potash, 



while valuable oils (eucalyptus) are yielded by the 

 leaves and other parts, which are now largely in use by 

 pharmacopojists generally. 



Eucalyptus amyrjdalina (white gum, peppermint tree). 

 — This magnificent tree has a wide range along most of 

 the eastern humid districts of Victoria. Several trees 

 measured gave approximately heights of 400 ft. Mr. 

 Howitt also, in Gippsland, obtained measurement of giant 

 forms up to 410 ft.; but greater heights are recorded. 

 The species must be ranked with the sequoias of California, 

 and the blue gums of Victoria and Tasmania, as among the 

 great giants of the vegetable creation. 



It is useful for many kinds of carpenter's work ; in 

 drying it does not twist. When stems are straight, as found 

 in forest valleys, the wood splits readily into palings, and 

 this with such facility that in some particular instances a 

 labourer has split 6 20 palings of 5 ft. length in one day. 

 The timber is not heavy comparatively, as it floats in 

 water, unlike that of many other Eucalypts ; it is 

 particularly well adapted for shingles, palings, and rails, 

 and is greatly used in shipbuilding, especially for keelsons 

 and planking. 



The ashes of the foliage yield 10 per cent, pearl ash ; and 

 from 1000 11). of fresh leaves, with their stalklets and 

 branches, the yield of eucalyptus oil by far surpasses that 



