36 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



"that some of those Australians turn out logs over 

 two hundred feet long and thirty in diameter at the 

 butt. Do you get that? That's a clear stick of 

 hardwood timber pretty near half as high as the 

 Washington Monument, standing on the same 

 amount of ground as a snug little bungalow. Now 

 what do you know about that? And we can grow 

 them in California. Got 'em started already." 



Of all trees in the West, the eucalypts are the most 

 rapid of growth, and in a general way accomplish 

 as much in twenty years as an oak in a century. 

 Of course the rate of growth depends largely upon 

 local conditions soil, moisture and climate but in 

 general terms, the species most commonly planted 

 in California are good for their twelve or fifteen 

 feet the first year after setting out at which time 

 they are usually four or five months old and the size 

 of a lead pencil and after that they can be counted 

 on to add from five to eight feet annually to their 

 score. Five-year-old blue gums forty to fifty feet 

 high are by no means uncommon, and any old resi- 

 dent can show you trees five feet in diameter at the 

 base whose crowns rise nearly or quite a hundred 

 and fifty feet into the air, and are not yet thirty 

 years old. There is always a balsamic fragrance 

 noticeable about a "gum grove," which has given 

 force to the popular belief that the presence of these 



