42 



explained under Nurseries, Gums may be kept over a 

 second year in tins, but the quick-growing kinds, such as 

 the Blue-gum, do better if planted out the first season. 



In popular parlance every Gum tljat is not a Blue-gum is 

 a Bed-gum. As there are over 120 species of Gums, to- 

 talk of " Bed-gum " is not much more definite than 

 " green-tree." 



The best Gums to stand frost are : 



Eucalyptus amygdalina. 



coreacea (pauciflora of Mueller J. 

 virmnalis. 

 GuniL 



rostra ta. 



For the drought and frost of the Karoo, Maiden quotes 

 the following : 



Eucalyptus crelra. 



,, macrorrhyncha. 



,, capitellafa. 



,, sideroxylon. 



hemiphloia var-albens. 



Cattle will usually eat all the Gums but the Blue-gum, 

 and this even with its strong scent is not safe from goats. 

 E. viminalis seems to be tlie only Gum ordinarily eaten by 

 locusts. All the Eucalypts produce timber that is hard, 

 heavy, and strong, but which seasons badly and is liable to 

 crack and warp on drying. These bad qualities are very 

 noticeable in the worst of the Eucalypts such as Blue-gum, 

 less so in the better as Jarrah. The durability of Eucalypt 

 timber varies much. Jarrah, Iron-bark and a dozen or so 

 others enumerated below will undoubtedly last well in the 

 ground; a larger class are fairly durable in the ground 

 under ordinary circumstances ; a much larger class with all 

 their hardness and difficulty of working are no more durable 

 in the ground than a piece of soft easily-worked pinewood. 

 Of no genus is it more difficult to classify and identify the 

 species and of no genus is a more intimate knowledge of the 

 species necessary to the Forester who is called upon to 

 recognize the few valuable species from the great mass of 

 nearly worthless species ; and in planting to fit each to its 

 proper climate. 



