78 EUCALYPTS CULTIVATED IN THE UNITED STATES. 



of situations. Owing to the great value of the tree from so many 

 standpoints, no mistake will be made in setting it wherever it will 

 thrive. It may be planted with profit as a forest cover in ravines, on 

 hillsides, on plains, and in quite dry desert situations. Such planta- 

 tions will within a decade begin to be sources of posts, fuel, railway 

 ties, telegraph poles, and bridge timbers, and will eventually produce 

 timber suitable for other important uses. If such plantings were 

 made along railway tracks, ties for keeping them in repair would be 

 available within a decade, and later the product would be sufficient for 

 extensions of the road into new sections. Timbers for repairing rail- 

 way bridges and building new ones, as well as for telegraph poles, 

 could also be thus supplied within easy reach of the points where they 

 would be needed. 



Eucalyptus rudis. 



Characteristics. — The trees of this species are commonly of medium 

 size, the usual height being 50 to 75 feet. Near Fresno, Cal., a grove 

 fifteen years of age contains trees 70 to 80 feet high and 18 to 2-t inches 

 in diameter. (Pis. XLII, XLIII.) The trees differ in habit, most 

 being erect and stately, while occasionally others have drooping stems 

 and branches. The young trees are vigorous and rapid growers, 

 attaining in America half the maximum height reported for them 

 from Australia in four or five years. The grayish bark of the trunk is 

 usually rough and persistent, but sometimes flakes off, leaving the 

 trunk smooth. The leaves of the j'oung trees are oblong, or sometimes 

 roundish, often with a deep red or bronze hue. (See Pis. LXXXIV, a; 

 LXXXIX, A.) As the tree grows older the new leaves are longer 

 and thinnish, finally being lance-shaped or curved. (See Pis. LXXV, 

 LXXVI.) The flowers are about medium size, in clusters of 3 to 8, 

 on rather slender stalks. The covering of the flower buds is conical. 

 The seed cases are cup-shaped, with prominent protruding valves. 



Climatic requirements. — If supplied with sufficient water the tree 

 will thrive in quite a variety of climates. In Australia it grows 

 naturally along or near streams. In the Southwest it thrives near the 

 coast, on dry mesas, and in the hot valleys of the interior. At Phoenix, 

 Ariz., one tree has attained a height of 30 feet and a diameter of 6 

 inches in three j^ears, being unaffected by either the heat of summer 

 or the cold of winter. In the Southwest the tree has proven to be 

 remarkably hardy to heat and cold, enduring without injury minimum 

 temperatures of 15° to 18° F. and maximum temperatures of 110° to 

 118° F. 



Uses. — Few reports on the character of the timber and its uses in 

 Australia are available, and the tree has not been grown extensivelj^ 

 enough m America to obtain data on the subject here. In regions 



