52 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, March 21, 1874. 



Dr. G. F. Waters, having received some seeds of the Australian 

 Eucalyptus globulus, inquired as to the character and cultivation of 

 the tree. 



Marshall P. Wilder replied that he saw the tree growing in 

 California. It is the tallest tree in the world, growing in Australia, 

 its native country, to the height of four hundred and eighty feet. 

 A section of a tree two hundred and fifty feet high was cut 

 down in Austi-alia and sent to California as a specimen. Though 

 taller than the Sequoia, the trunk is not as large. He saw one 

 tree in California which had made a shoot fifteen feet in length in 

 a single season. In that State it has been planted by the fifty 

 acres for timber. There are several species of the Eucalyptus, but 

 this is the one most generally grown in California. 



Charles M. Hovey said there has been a great deal of discussion 

 on this tree in the "Gardeners' Chronicle" and other journals. 

 It is said to be one of the most powerful antidotes to malaria. He 

 thought it probable that the beneficial effect might be produced by 

 the odor which emanates from it, as we find the delightful fra- 

 grance of our own pine woods is beneficial to weak lungs. It would 

 not be hardy here. Australian trees, generally, are tender in this 

 latitude. In Louisiana it might be valuable for planting in the 

 swamps, and covering barren places, and also in the other southern 

 States. The timber is not of remarkable quality. 



Robert Manning said he had read some of the notices of the 

 miasma destroying properties of i\xQ Eucalyptus, referred to by Mr. 

 Hovey, but the latest notices he had seen doubted whether it pos- 

 sessed this property in a greater degree than any other fast growing 

 tree. 



Edward S. Rand, Jr., confirmed Mr. Manning's statement, and 

 added, that he had a tree planted in his vinery border which made 

 a growth of six or eight feet in a season. The leaves are of a sil- 

 very hue, and when played on by the wind, the eflfect is very 

 beautiful. There is also a plant at the Botanic Garden, in Cam- 

 bridge, which has grown so tall as to crowd against the roof of the 

 house. The tree is extraordinarily odoriferous, with a peculiar 



