EUCALYPTUS TREES. 269 
bush furnishes the strong and beautiful fibre woven 
into the fabric, which inappropriately is called grass- 
cloth. The bark is softened by hot water or steam, 
and then separable into its tender fibres. The best is 
obtained from the young shoots; it is glossy, tough, 
and lasting, combining to some extent the appearance 
- of silk with thestrength of flax. Theordinary mar- 
ket value of the fibre is about £40 per ton; but Dr. 
Royle mentions that it has realized, at times, £120. 
The seeds are sown on manured or otherwise rich and 
friable soil. In the third year, or under very favora- 
ble circumstances even earlier, it yields its crops, as 
many as three annually. The produce of an acre has 
been estimated at twotonsof fibre. Thislatter, since 
Kaempfer’s time, has been known to be extensively 
used for ropes and cordage in Japan. Our rich and 
warmest forest valleys seem best adapted for the 
Ramie, as occasional irrigation can be also there ap- 
plied. Inthe open grounds of Victoria it suffers from 
the night frosts, although this does not materially in- 
jure the plant, which sends up fresh shoots, fit for 
fibre, during the hot season. The plant has been cul- 
tivated and distributed since 1854, in the Botanic Gar- 
den of Melbourne, where it is readily propagated from 
cuttings, the seeds ripening rarely there. Cordage 
of this Boehmeria is three times as strong as that of 
hemp. Other species require to be tested, among 
them the one which was recently discovered in Lord 
Home’s Island, namely, Boehmeria calophleba. 
Boronia megastigma, Nees. —In West Australia, 
on margins of swamps. This remarkable bush is re- 
corded here as an emblem of mourning, its external 
blackish flowers rendering it especially eligible for 
