184 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Tasmania ; indeed Tasman's carpenter was already astonished at 

 the hugeness of the trees there. The wood is fissile, well adapted 

 for shingles, rails, staves, 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. Bees draw much 

 honey from the flowers of Eucalypts. 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. Gunnii and E. cordata. 

 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. resinifera, 

 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 climate 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 

 sylvan form E. regnans. In Gippsland it ascends to an altitude of 

 4,000 feet. Mons. F. de Rochemache observes, that E. amygdalina 

 grows nearly five times quicker in South-Europe than Pinus Laricio. 

 This tree and others with very oily foliage have to be specially guarded 

 against forest-conflagrations. The prospect of distilling the now 

 well known Eucalyptus-oil from different species as a new industry 

 was pointed out by the writer of this work already, 1853, in his 

 annual report to the Government, printed by order of the Victorian 

 Parliament then. It was first brought extensively into commerce by 

 Mr. Bosisto, who has the credit of having ascertained many of the 

 properties of this oil for technic application. Single consignments 

 of 2,000 Ibs. have arrived from Mr. Bosisto's establishment in London. 

 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. Dr. Curgenven found Eucalyptus-oil, combined with 

 thymol and other antiseptics, highly efficacious in the treatment of 

 scarlet-fever and other infectious diseases, especially as an external 

 application. Fresh Eucalyptus-branchlets, particularly of E. amyg- 

 dalina, should be daily placed into the sickroom of phthisic patients, 

 best under the bedstead, the effect being not only antiseptic, but 

 also sedative and to some extent hypnotic. Colonel Warren quotes 

 from scripture in reference to the medicinal value of the Eucalypts : 

 " The leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations/' 

 The respective hygienic value of various Eucalypts may to some 

 extent be judged from the average percentage of oil in their foliage, 



