46 



TSE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



THE TALLEST TREES IN THE 

 WORLD. 



It is usually considei'ed that this 

 epithet belongs, far excellence, to the 

 famous " Big; Trees" in California, 

 variously known by the names of Wel- 

 lingtonia or Seqixoia. These are, how- 

 ever, far surpassed in height, and 

 probably also in the total amount of 

 timber in a single tree, by the real 

 giants of the vegetable kingdom, the 

 noble gum trees of the genus Eucahip- 

 tus, which gi'ow in the Victorian State 

 Forest, on the slopes of the mountains 

 dividing Gipps Land from the rest of 

 Victoria, and also in the mountain 

 ranges north of Cape Otway, the first 

 land which is usually " made" by any 

 vessel bound from England for Mel- 

 bourne direct. As will presently be 

 shown there are only four of the Cali- 

 fornian trees known to be above 300 

 feet high, the tallest being 325 feet, 

 and only about sixty have been measur- 

 ed that exceed 200 feet in height. 



In the large tracts near the sources 

 of the Watts River, however (a nor- 

 thern branch of Yarra-Yarra, at the 

 mouth of which Melbourne is built), 

 all the trees average from 250 to 300 

 feet in height, mostly straight as an 

 arrow, and with very few branches. 

 Many fallen trees measure 350 feet in 

 length, and one huge specimen was dis- 

 covered lately which was found, by 

 actual measurement with a tape, to be 

 435 feet long from its roots to where 

 the trunk had been broken off by the 

 fall ; and at that point it was 3 feet in 

 diameter, so that the entire tree could 

 not have Vjeen less than 500 feet in 

 total height. It was 18 feet in diame- 

 ter at 5 feet from the ground, and was 

 a Eucalyptus of either of the species E. 

 oblique or E. amyydalina. It should 

 be noted that these gigantic ti'ees do 

 not, like their California )trototype.s, 

 grow in small and isolated groves, 

 towering above smaller specimens of 



the same or of closely allied kinds, but 

 that, both in the Dandenong and 

 Otway i-anges, nearly every tree in the 

 forest over a large area, is on this 

 enormous scale. — World of Wonders. 



THE YUCCA IN CALIFORNIA. 



The Yucca or Spanish Bayonet, from 

 which we have named our camp, is one 

 of the most imposing flowers in the 

 world. The plant itself is a bunch of 

 bayonet-like leaves, stiff and sharp 

 enough to inflict a painful wound, and 

 12 inches or 18 inches in length, grow- 

 ing close to the ground. Out of this 

 cluster the single flower-stalk rises to a 

 height of about 1 5 feet. The flowers 

 are cream-white, about 2| inches in di- 

 ameter, pendulous on delicate stems in 

 horizontal racemes which spring from 

 the stalk in lengths so regularly gradu- 

 ated that the mass of blossoms present 

 the appearance of a gigantic white oval, 

 about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide in 

 the middle, tapering gracefully above 

 and below. The specimen erected in 

 our Plaza when we named the camp 

 has seventy racemes, each containing 

 from ten to thirty flowers. This gives 

 about 1400 or 1500 blossoms for each 

 stalk, and they shed a heavy lily-like 

 perfume, whose strength is commensu- 

 rate with their grand proportions. 

 These stately plants seem to be climb- 

 ing precipitous mountains, and stand- 

 ing like sentries on the crest of the 

 ridge. I am afraid it will seem prosaic 

 if I add that the Yucca is good to eat. 

 Mr. Albert Durer brought in the top 

 of a young one which had not yet burst 

 into flower. It looked like a stalk of 

 Asparagus, four feet long and as thick 

 as a man's wrist. The tender top, cut 

 in pieces and stewed with cream sauce, 

 made a pleasant addition to our dinner. 

 It tasted soiucthing like Salsafy and 

 something like Artichoke, and a good 

 deal like Yucca. I believe that it is a 



