1S78.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



135 



THE MOST WONDERFUL OF TREES. 



Valuable Properties of the King of the Tas- 

 mania and Victoria Woods. 



The Encniyptxis ylohidus is only found in 

 Tasmania and Victoiia, but where found it is 

 irally the nionopolist of the woods. The 

 forest area of Victoria, the most southern 

 colony of Australia, contains 7.'!, 000 square 

 miles of forest, of which 71,500 is almost 

 wholly of eucalypts. And so great is the di- 

 vrrsity of these trees among themselves, that 

 pnnie oue hundred and lit'ty varieties are 

 recognized. This gave marked interest to the 

 exhibits of tlie Australia colonies and Tas- 

 mania in the I'hiladelphia Exposition. ]5ut to 

 the student of human jirogress a noteworthy 

 fact was, that Kurahjptus llgured in the con- 

 tributions of nations to whom the .seed even 

 was unknown twenty years ago. Eucalyi)tus 

 woods, leaves, oils, essences, gums, &c., 

 formed item^ in the exhibits from the south 

 and north of Africa, the Cape Colony and 

 Algeria; the Orange Free Slate, Southern 

 Europe, notably France and Italy, Brazil, the 

 jiampas of South America, Mexico, Califor- 

 nia, .Jamaica, and even India, could have 

 competed. 



When freshly cut the wood of these trees is 

 soft, but so fidl is it of a resinous gum that it 

 soon hardens, and becomes well nigh imperish- 

 able. For ships, and docks, and jetties, it is 

 invaluable. The terrible Teredo navalis, or 

 ship worm, lets it alone. It is proof, also, 

 against that fearful scourge, the termites, or 

 white ant. Hence, in India eucalyptus wood 

 is used for the sleepers of the railroads, where 

 it defies' the insects and the climate. So great 

 is the variety of tlie eucalyptus that they are 

 provided for nearly every purpose which wood 

 can subserve. The ship-builder, wheelwright, 

 carpenter, coachmakers and cabinetmakers 

 are all supplied. Usually the eucalyptus are 

 ivergreensand hold tenaciously to their leaves, 

 liut they readily shed their bark, as a rule, 

 and in such immen.se pieces can this be de- 

 tached that the natives make a rude tent of a 

 single piece. Of many species the bark is 

 serviceable for paper making. For size no 

 tree can equal these Anstralian gums in the 

 magnitude of the timber aflbrded. A plank 

 sent from Victoria, and intended for the Lon- 

 don exhibition, but which arrived too late, 

 sold for £100. It was a clear plank, over 223 

 feet long, two feet six inches wide, and three 

 inches thick. But, though excellent timber, 

 some of the species are of little worth for 

 fuel. In these the wood burns with such 

 diiliculty that it is regarded as specially suited 

 for shingles. 



In the deep ravines of Dandenong, in Vic- 

 toria, a £uraliiiilus amyydalina measured 420 

 feet ; while another, on the Black Spur, meas- 

 ured 480 feet, tlnis overtopping greatly the 

 pyramid of Cheops and every human achieve- 

 ment, and even beating liy 1.55 feet the famous 

 Sequoia yigantra (Torrey), the biggest of the 

 "big trees" of the Calaveras grove. Mr. G. 

 W. Robinson found a eucalypt which, at the 

 lieight of four feet from the ground, had a 

 girth of 81 feet, or 27 feet diameter. It is 

 notable, too, that for amount of timber per 

 acre these gum-trees are unmatchable. We 

 read that in one of the densest parts of the 

 Mount Macedon state forests an acre of -Euca- 

 lyptus fissilis contained forty-two large stand- 

 ing trees and twelve saplings. Many of the 

 largest of these trees were from six to seven 

 feet in diameter four feet from the gfouud, 

 and were from 200 to 220 feet high. 



Saplings fifty feet high, and but ten years 

 old, are not remarkable. It is declared that 

 seed sowii in Jamaica at an elevation of 5,000 

 feet, in 1870, had in 1870 attained a growth 

 of fifty feet. We have with our own eyes 

 witnessed throughout an entire summer a 

 growth of an incli a day. 



While aljle to stand great heat, these 

 rapidly-growing eucalypti cannot resist great 

 cold, and without these home conditions we 

 must not expect of them their home achieve- 

 ments. Even at home the tribe does its best 

 with its semi-tropical members. And there is 



a great range of variety until we meet even 

 the Aliiine species, of slow growth and very 

 modest altitude. In our country, excei>t in a 

 few favored spots, little can be hoped of tlie 

 semi-troiiical varieties north of latitude l!(P. 



That the IC. ijlohului has earned by fair ex- 

 lieriment its name of fever tree, as a preven- 

 tive, seems now to be settled. Its rapid 

 growth must make it a gnsat drainer of wet 

 soils, while its marked tcrebinthine odor may 

 liave its inlluence, and it is highly probable 

 that the liberation of this essence into the air 

 stands connected with its generation of ozone. 

 But, Avhatever the sanitary activities of the 

 eucalypt may be, the fact is squarely settled 

 that spots in Italy, nniidiabitable because of 

 the malarial fever, have been rendered tpler- 

 able by the planting of TJ. globulus, and it is 

 l)elieved that a more plentiful [ilanting would 

 nearly if not ([uite removes the diiliculty. A 

 military post is mentioned in Algeria, in 

 which the garrison had to bo changed every 

 live days, such was the virulence of the 

 malaria." A plantation of eucalypts cleared 

 the miasma nearly away, an<l rendered no- 

 necessary the freipient changes of the garri- 

 son. In this case 00,000 trees were planted. 



But the eucalypt has not a few medicinal 

 virtues. Its oils and essences are antiseptic. 

 Ditlused in the sick room, they iiurify the air 

 and generate ozone. Already they have taken 

 their places in the materia medica as very 

 important internal medicines. The leaves 

 contain the essence eucnhjptol, and a resinous 

 solid containing a bitter principle not yet 

 imderstood, and which seems to afford the 

 antifebrile virtue ; hence an extract from the 

 leaves, either aqueous or alcoholic, is nscd as 

 a febrifuge. As a tonic, water may be aroma- 

 tized by a slight infusion of the leaves. A 

 liquor similar to tliat of mastic can be pro- 

 duced, and the pharmacy gives instructions 

 for making a tonic eucalyptal wine. Some of 

 the species arc tapped for the sap, and gum- 

 tree cider is obtained. The leaves of others 

 yield manna. The famous East India kino of 

 commerce, obtained from the Pleroearpus 

 marsupium, a lofty legume growing on the 

 mountains of India, now finds a rival in the 

 Botany Bay kino, the concrete juice of the 

 lirown gum-tree {Eucalyptus resinifcra,) of 

 which it is said that a single tree is capable 

 of furnishing .500 pounds of kino in a year. A 

 very interesting instance of what the tliera- 

 lieutist calls "maskhig"is an application of 

 the oil of eucalypt for the deodorizing and 

 aromatizing of cod liver oil, thus rendering 

 palatable and even additionally tonic this re- 

 pulsive medicine. 



Owing to the bluish-green of its leaves, E. 

 globulus is popularly known as the blue-gum 

 tree. Abroad it is most known outside of its 

 systematic name as the Tasmanian gum-tree, 

 and Australian fever-tree. Among the set- 

 tlers, gum-tree is the general name of the 

 eucalypts. But, as might be expected of a 

 genus so numerous in species, there are many 

 trivial names, such as bluc-guin, brown-gum, 

 the red and the white mahogany, stringy- 

 bark, and iron-bark, etc. Tlie botanists 

 reckon 150 varieties. Tliese all belong to the 

 great order Myrlarrw, or myrtle blooms. And 

 a decidedly respectable relatioilship have 

 these trees which shed "their medicinal 

 gum," for they arc close cousins to the well 

 known myrtle, the pomegranate, pimento, or 

 alLspice, cajeput and clove. 



INSECT PESTS AND THEIR REMEDY. 

 " Mil. Editok : The season for insect (icsts 

 upon our farm stock is now at liand, anil it is 

 the duty of every farmer to relieve his stock, 

 as much as possible, from these annoyances. 

 The Bott lly will now deposit its eggs u))on 

 the legs of horses. Every evening we should 

 soften the hold of these eggs wit li warm water 

 and serajie them olf with .a stiff brusli or an 

 old knife. These eggs are the cause of botts 

 in horses, for the cure of which no sure remedy 

 has yet been discovered. The ox bott-lly will 

 now make his home in the backs of our cattle 

 unless headed off by the application of crude 

 pretroleutn along the loins of the animal. 



While tlie existence of these larv* in the 

 backs of cattle are not dangerous they must 

 certainly cause more or less irritation to the 

 animals. The slicep bott-fly will now lay its ' 

 eggs in the nostrils of our sheep, and the mag- 

 gots crawl from thence into tlie hollows in the 

 bones of tlie forehead, inducing disease in the 

 Hock. Put tar upon their noses and prevent 

 the lly from making a lodgment there. Our 

 poultry, their roosting places, juests,'&c., will 

 swarm with hen lice, unless promptly attended 

 to. Whitewash, and a solution of carbolic 

 acid sprinkled over the roosts — coal oil will do 

 as well — and a little sulphur sprinkled in their 

 nests will destroy the vermin. These things 

 will all be attended to by every careful farmer. 

 — Furmrr, London drove, Itk mo. 5(/t, 1878." 

 Our correspondent's suggestions are timely 

 and a)ipropriate to the season. In regard to 

 the elU'cts of the ox bott-lly upon the welfare 

 of the animals in which it makes a lodgment, 

 naturalists hold some rather strange opinions. 

 It is held that tlu^ puncturing of the animal's 

 back by the tly, and the growth of the larviB 

 therein, acts as a counter-irritant iiiion the 

 sy.stcm, jneventing the access as well as in 

 ell'ecting the cure of disorders ; and has the 

 same effect upon the ox as a leech, or a blister 

 plaster, by its local irritation. A distinguished 

 English naturalist recommends farmers not 

 to disturb the worm in their oxen's backs, 

 because they were dejiofited there by virtue 

 of a great leading principle existing in nature, 

 of leaving no .space nnoccupied that can pos- 

 sibly afford a situation for the convenient in- 

 crease of animal existence ; hence springs one 

 of the causes for the extraordinary occupation 

 of the ox's back by these aiiimal.s. This is 

 ce^'tainly a very complacent view of the sub- 

 ject, but if the writer had half a dozen holes 

 in his back with half a dozen bott-llies com- 

 fortably located therein he would iirobably 

 (luestion the great leading principle of nature 

 that made a convenience of his back for the 

 increase of animal existence 1 There is one 

 l>erson at least who may reasonably demur to 

 making the ox's back a convenience for the re- 

 production of the bott-lly — and he is the tan- 

 ner. Many a valuable ox hide has been 

 seriously injured from the holes made by the 

 larvie of these insects. — Village liecord. 



CLOVER AND CHINCH BUGS. 



Horatio Sparks, of St. Cloud, Wisconsin, in 

 The World, says : From my experience with 

 chinch bugs the last twoseas(ms I am well sat- 

 islied that all grain-lields if liberally sown to 

 clover at seed time — say from lift ecu to twenty 

 pounds of clover-seed per acre, salt at the rate 

 of half a barrel, and plaster from 100 to 150 

 pounds per acre — no fear of chinch bugs need 

 be entertained. The salt and pl.aster give the 

 clover a heavy and liixurant growth, so that 

 it comiiletcly shades the ground, to the dis- 

 comliture of Hie chinch bug. It is a frail in- 

 sect, and cannot llourish except in the sun- 

 shine and with the ground clean about the 

 grain roots. The salt and plaster not only 

 make twice the bulk of clover that would nat- 

 urally grow without it, but add from 20 to 

 :iO iier cent, to the grain crop. Tlie salt 

 hardens and stiffens the straw, produces a 

 rank growth, and prevents blight, rust and 

 mildew, and destroys all grubs and cut-worms 

 that come in contact with it. In 1870 I seed- 

 ed three acres on one side of a ten-acre lot that 

 was sown to Canada spring wheat witli one 

 bushel of clover-seed and half a bushel of tim- 

 othy-seed, well mixed. The result was, it com- 

 pletely occupied the ground. After tlie w^heat 

 and grass were nicely iq) I .sowed one half of 

 the IJiree acres with salt and plaster, mixed at 

 the rate of two bushels of salt to 100 pounds 

 of iilaster. On the other half I sowed 200 

 ])ounds of plaster and no salt. The result was 

 the half of the field that was treated with salt 

 and plaster was much better than the half 

 treated with iilaster alone. The clover on the 

 first was much of it headed at harvest time 

 and was a perfect mat. I cut it with a strong 

 light reaper, called the Triumph, and one of 

 the be.st machines, I think, manufactured. I 

 kept the wheat from those three acres separ- 



