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EUCALYPTUS TREES. 55 
na Gum-tree (Eucalyptus viminalis) ; the Box Gum- 
tree (Eucalyptus melliodora) produced nearly three 
pounds of pure potash, or about five pounds of pearl- 
ash from a ton of fresh leaves and branches ; while a 
ton of the wood of the Red Gum-tree, in a dried state, 
gave nearly two pounds weight of pure carbonate of 
potassa, whereas the wood of the Blue Gum-tree 
proved still richer. A ton of the dry wood of the 
erect She-oak (Casuarina suberosa) furnished the large 
quantity of six and one half pounds of pure potash. 
This result is about equal to that obtainable from the 
European Lime-tree or Linden-tree, which again is 
one of the richest of all European trees in this respect. 
Such indications may suffice to draw more fully the 
attention of forest settlers to an important but as yet 
latent branch of industry. For further details I refer 
to elaborate tables of the yield of potash in native 
trees, as the result from analyses made under my 
direction by Mr. Chr. Hoffmann — these tabulated 
statements being appended to my departmental re- 
port, presented to Parliament in 1869. The whole- 
sale price of the best pearlash is about £3 for the ewt. 
in Melbourne. 
I wish it distinctly to be understood that I do not 
advocate an indiscriminate sacrifice of our forest-trees 
for any solitary one of its products, such as the pot- 
ash; because by any such procedure we would still 
more accelerate the reduction of our woods. On the 
contrary, good timber, fit for splitting or for the saw- 
mill, ought to be far too precious for potash or tar 
preparation. But branch-wood, bark, roots, crooked 
stems, and even foliage, might well be utilized for 
this industry, wherever the place is too remote to dis- 
