14 EUCALYPTS CULTIVATED IN THE UNITED STATES. 



species suitable to a great variety of semitropic situations; and there 

 are undoubtedly greater future possibilities along this line. Each 

 3'ear one or more additional promising species finds its way from Aus- 

 tralia to our continent, the usefulness of the genus being thus continu- 

 ally extended to new regions. As Americans become better acquainted 

 with the Eucalypts in their native home the possibilities for the useful- 

 ness of these trees upon our continent will be increased. 



THE ETICALYPTS AS EXOTICS. 



INTRODUCTION OVER THE GLOBE. 



From Australia the Eucalypts have been carried to many parts of 

 the earth having a similar climate. The dissemination began on an 

 extensive scale about the middle of the past century, largely through 

 the labors of Baron von Mueller in Australia and of M. Ramel in 

 Australia and in Europe. To be sure, small plantings had been made 

 in Europe and in Africa earlier in the centuiy , but we are indebted to 

 these men for an adequate appreciation of the real merits of the genus. 

 Prof. J. E. Planchon, one of the students and disseminators of Euca- 

 lypts in France, says of these men in his paper upon the Eucalyptus 

 glohulus^^'' that their memory should be associated with the name 

 Eucalj'ptus ''wherever this tree thrives as a source of public wealth 

 and salubrity;" and then adds: * 



In the history of the future naturalization of the Eucalyptus, ^Mueller is the savant 

 who justly calculated the future of the tree, traced it in its [prospective] itineracy, 

 and predicted its destiny. Ramel is the enthusiastic amateur who has thrown body 

 and mind into the mission of propagating it. Both have faith, but one is a prophet, 

 the other an apostle; and, in the noble confraternity of services, public gratitude 

 will not separate the names that are bound together by friendship. 



Others took up the good work in various parts of the 'svorld, and, 

 during the quarter of a century that followed, the genus became 

 widely distributed. It is said that more trees of thi.s genus have 

 been planted away from its original habitat than of all other forest 

 trees combined. As an indication of how extensively they were being 

 planted a quarter of a century ago, the following statement from a 

 seed catalogue published in Sidney in 1875 is of interest: 



To give our friends some idea of the demand: We have sold nearh' half a ton of 

 seed during the past year. One pound weight should produce many thousand plants. 



The present generation is reaping the benefit of the extensive plant- 

 ing of that period. 



The Eucalypts are now grown successfully in southern Europe, in 

 northern and in .southern Africa, in southern Asia, in pai'ts of South 

 America, and in the Southern part of North America. Thus, a por- 



a Revue des Deux Mondes, January, 1875. Translated and published by Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, May, 1875. 



