LUMBER TREES 107 



Everyone who visits California marvels at the 

 eucalyptus, and those of us who watch it year 

 after year marvel equally, because this tree has 

 capacity for growth that seems little less than 

 magical. No other trees, perhaps, ever seen in 

 America, with the exception of the hybrid wal- 

 nuts, have such capacity to add to their stature 

 and girth year by year as has the eucalyptus. 



Moreover the eucalyptus may be cut for tim- 

 ber, its trunk severed only a few inches above 

 the ground; and it will send forth shoots that 

 dart into the air and transform themselves into 

 new trunks, each seeming to strive to rival the 

 old one. From the roots of the fallen giant 

 spring a galaxy of new giants, and each new 

 shoot assumes the proportions of a tree with 

 almost unbelievable celerity. 



Add that the wood of the eucalyptus, notwith- 

 standing its rapid growth, is among the hardest, 

 and the remarkable character of this importation 

 from the Southern Hemisphere will be more 

 clearly realized. 



Unfortunately the eucalyptus is sensitive to 

 cold ; otherwise it would at once offer a solution 

 of the problem of reforestation throughout the 

 whole of the United States. 



Perhaps the eucalyptus may be made more 

 hardy by hybridizing and selection. At least we 



