T902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



513 



Forestry under the title of ' ' Eucalypts 

 Cultivated in the United States. ' ' * 



Although of foreign origin, the Eu- 

 calypts seem specially fitted to the dr}' 

 country of Arizona, New Mexico, south- 

 ern California, and western Texas, where 

 their value would be hard to overesti- 

 mate. Their drought-resisting powers 

 enable them to flourish where no large 

 American tree will grow\ The}' yield 

 oil, gum, nectar for honeybees, furnish 

 shade for the ranch-house, windbreaks 

 for field crops, and firewood for locali- 

 ties where fuel is scare ; but their chief 

 value lies in the possibilities they hold 

 for the reforestation of the bare, dry 

 mountain sides of the desert country 

 and for the protection of irrigating 

 streams. They are specially adapted 

 for such purposes by reason of their 

 rapidity of growth in arid soil. The 

 Eucalypts are now grown in Ameriac, 

 especially in the southwestern United 

 States, more extensively than any other 

 exotic forest tree. 



No native American species can equal 

 the extraordinary development of this 

 exotic from remote Australia. On the 

 ranch of Elwood Cooper, near Santa 

 Barbara, California, there are Eucalypts 

 25 years old as great in girth as oaks of 

 300 3^ears ; and time and again the spe- 

 cies known as Blue Gum has, when cut 

 to the ground, sent up sprouts from the 

 stump w^hich in eight years have reached 

 a height of one hundred feet ; nor does 

 this rapidity of growth shorten the life 

 of the tree, for the Eucalypts, in their 

 Australian home, reach a great age and 

 rival in size the giant Redwoods and the 

 Big Trees of California. 



The author of the bulletin on " Euca- 

 lypts Cultivated in the United States," 

 Prof. Alfred J. McClatchie, of the Ari- 

 zona Experiment Station at Phoenix, 

 has devoted ten years to the study of 

 this genus. Besides his observations of 

 its growth in the southwest, he has had 

 the benefit of a correspondence concern- 

 ing it with botanists of this country and 

 of Australia, Algiers, and France. 



* Eucalypts Cultivated in the United vStates. 

 Ey Alfred' James McClatchie, M. A., Agricul- 

 turist and Horticulturist of the Arizona Ex- 

 periment Station. Bulletin 35, Bureau of For- 

 estry. Pp. 106, plates XCI. 



The bulletin, while being devoted es- 

 pecially to the Eucalypts as they grow 

 in this country, also contains short 

 descriptions of their habits in their na- 

 tive home and of their remarkable trav- 

 els into all the great dry regions of the 

 globe. 



Detailed descriptions are given of the 

 best methods of propagating and caring 

 for Eucalypts, which includes directions 

 for germinating the seed, transferring 

 the plants to forest soil, and setting 

 them in the field. The bulletin con- 

 tains, in addition, careful, detailed, de- 

 scriptions, illustrated by photographs, of 

 the principal Eucalypts cultivated in 

 the United States. 



Professor McClatchie has discussed 

 the Eucalypts mainh' from the stand- 

 point of their usefulness, onh- incident- 

 ally treating them as ornamentals. No 

 attempt is made to present an exhaustive 

 botanical treatise of the Eucalypts. 

 The botanical features introduced are 

 intended to be subservient to the in- 

 terests and purposes of the forester. 



Onl}^ the large arboreal species are 

 discussed that is, species attaining a 

 height of over 40 to 50 feet and a diam- 

 eter of over I foot. Many of the species 

 consisting of smaller trees are very in- 

 teresting to the botanist and gardener, 

 but they are of comparatively little in- 

 terest to the forester. 



The purpose of this bulletin is to give 

 information concerning the character- 

 istics of the Eucalypts, their climatic 

 requirements, and their uses ; to give 

 directions and suggestions as to their 

 propagation and culture ; and to furnish 

 a means of identifying seedlings and 

 mature trees, so that as the Eucalypts 

 growing throughout the southwest be- 

 come identified, such trees may become 

 sources of seed for propagation. This 

 Australian group of trees now serves 

 verj' many useful purposes in the south- 

 west, and gives promise of great future 

 usefulness in the semi-arid portions of 

 our continent. It is believed that when 

 the merits of these trees are fully un- 

 derstood, and information concerning 

 their climatic requirements and their 

 propagation is readily available, they 

 will be planted more extensively and 

 with increasing intelligence and dis- 



