in Extra-Tropical Countries. 



131 





sents probably the loftiest tree on the globe. Mr. G-. W. Robinson, 

 surveyor, measured a tree at the foot of Mount Baw-Baw, which was 

 471 feet high. Another tree in the Cape Otway-ranges was found to 

 be 415 feet high and 15 feet in diameter, where cut in felling, at a con- 

 siderable height above the ground. Another tree measured 69 feet in 

 circumference at the base of the stem; at 12 feet from the ground it 

 had a diameter of 14 feet; at 78 feet a diameter of 9 feet; at 144 feet a 

 diameter of 8 feet, and at 210 feet a diameter of 5 feet. Individual 

 trees are known with a stem-circumference of 56 feet at 5 feet from 

 the ground. The wood is fissile, well adapted for shingles, rails, for 

 inner building-material and many other purposes, but it is not a 

 strong wood. That of the smaller rough-barked variety has proved 

 lasting for fence-posts. La Billardiere's name applies ill to any of 

 the forms of this species. Plants raised on rather barren ground near 

 Melbourne have shown nearly the same amazing rapidity of growth 

 as those of E. globulus; yet, like those of E. obliqua, they are not so 

 easily satisfied with any soil. In the south of France this tree grew 

 to a height of 50 feet in eight years. It has endured the frosts of the 

 milder parts of England, with E. G-unnii and E. viminalis. In New 

 Zealand it has survived the cold, where E. globulus succumbed. E. 

 amygdalina, E. urnigera, E. coccifera, E. rostrata and E. corymbosa 

 have proved more hardy than E. globulus, E. diversicolor, E. resini- 

 fera, E. longifolia and E. melliodora at Rome, according to the Rev. M . 

 Gildas. E. coccifera being hardier than any other. Professor Ch. 

 Naudin believes, that E. amygdalina will prove hardy along the 

 western maritime districts of France as far north as Brittany; the 

 ordinary variety proved also hardy in the mild clime of Arran (Rev. 

 D. Landsborough) ; also along with E. globulus at Falmouth (G-. H. 

 Taylor), the typical rough-barked form enduring more frost than the 

 silvan form E. regnans. The now well-known Eucalyptus-oil, the dis- 

 tillation of which was initiated by the writer, is furnished in greater or 

 lesser proportion by all the different species. It was first brought exten- 

 sively into commerce by Mr. Bosisto, who has the credit of having 

 ascertained many of the properties of this oil for technic application. 

 It is this species, which yields more volatile oil than any other hitherto 

 tested, and which therefore is largely chosen for distillation ; thus 

 it is also one of the best for subduing malarian effluvia in fever- 

 regions, although it does not grow with quite the same ease and 

 celerity as E. globulus. The respective hygienic value of various 

 Eucalypts may to some extent be judged from the average percentage 

 of oil in their foliage, as stated below, and as ascertained by Mr. 

 Bosisto, at the author's instance, for the Exhibition of 1862: 



E. amygdalina . 3 '313 percent, volatile oil. 



E. oleosa ... . T250 



E. Leucoxylon . 1'OGO 



E. goniocalyx . 0'914 



E. globulus ... . 0-719 



E. obliqua ... . O'SOO 



The lesser quantity of o 1 of E. globulus is however compensated for 

 by the vigor of its growth and the early copiousness of its foliage. 



