EUCALYPTUS TREES. bie STL 
our ranges, would be teriterotl saleable at a:eentral 
sumach mill,* The demand for tea being so enor- 
mous, and geographic latitudes like ours being those 
which allow of its growth, it will be fully apparent 
that it must assume a prominent part in our future 
rural economy, particularly as the return for capital 
and labor thus invested and expended will be quite 
as early as that from the vine. The importation of 
tea into Victoria, during 1870, has been valued in 
the customs returns at £496,623; whereas Victoria 
might largely export this highly important and remu- 
nerative commodity. 
The simple process of gathering the leaves might 
be performed by children. 
In the foregoing pages I alluded cursorily to the 
Cork Oak ; let me add my opinion, that in any local- 
ity with natural boundaries, such as abrupt sides of 
ranges, deep water -courses, where fences could be 
largely obviated, the Cork-tree might well be planted 
as a forest-tree, and thus estates be established at lit- 
tle cost, with hardly any expense of maintenance, 
from which a periodic yield of cork might be obtained 
for several successive generations. ‘The investment 
of a limited capital for raising a cork-forest in any 
naturally-defined locality would, as I said, create a 
rich possession for bequest. Even if by new inven- 
tions an artificial substitute for cork was found, the 
wood of the Cork Oak would still be of some value. 
The State might also reserve any forest area with 
natural boundaries for its various wood requirements, 
* An essay by Professor Inzenga, on Sumach-culture in Sicily, translated 
by Colonel H. Yule, C.B., is published in the Transactions of the Botanic 
Society of Edinburgh, vol, ix., 341-355, and was, on my suggestion, trans- 
ferred to a local journal, 
