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THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



sheep and cattle. In some districts, this has no doubt been the 

 case, and the runs have been able to support an increased number 

 of stock ; but evils have also arisen from destroying not merely 

 shrubby species of no great utility, but trees of commercial value. 

 I myself have seen numbers of Iron-barks {E. crehra, F. v. M., 

 and E. panicnlata, Sra.) sacrificed for grazing purposes. Now, 

 these trees, as indeed all the species of Eucalyptus, are not 

 merely calculated to promote the health of the community by 

 diffusing far and wide gases conducive to the physical benefit of 

 man, but as years roll on they are becoming of greater considera- 

 tion. Opinions are somewhat divided on the subject of ring- 

 barking, for whilst most people agree as to the policy of removing 

 such as may be deemed cumberers of the ground, men of judgment 

 lament over the loss of useful species, or the contingency that a 

 host of troublsome weeds may spring up where eucalypts once 

 flourished. The late Mr. Thomas Shepherd, who had devoted 

 many years to the study of this question, was of opinion that the 

 rainfall is affected in a greater or less degree by the increase or 

 decrease of forest vegetation, and not only that, but he maintained 

 that the shelter of trees is necessary for the preservation of the 

 more delicate grasses. Whether ringbarking is right or wrong, it 

 is certain that the system has been carried on relentlessly, and 

 that the sanction of the Government, by allowing so much an 

 acre for land which had been ringbarked, accelerated the work of 

 destruction. It is satisfactory, however, to know that the system 

 has been much modified, and that great care is now taken to 

 foster the Government reserves, and to keep the best of the 

 eucalypts from annihilation. 



Floods have sometimes proved very injurious to eucalypts. 

 Some species are capable of living longer in flooded areas than 

 others ; but even the River Gum {E. rostrata, Sch.), which 

 generally grows on the side of rivers or in moist low grounds, 

 cannot endure any prolonged inundation. Sir Thomas Mitchell 

 mentions that he had noticed saplings of this species (which 

 had probably been growing in the bed of a dried-up creek for 

 eight or ten years) killed by some overwhelming flood (vol. ii., p. 

 148). He also observes, in reference to the destruction of gum 

 trees near Regent's Lake — " On its northern margin, and a good 

 way within the former boundary of the lake, stood dead trees of 

 a full-grown size, which had been apparently killed by too much 

 water, plainly showing, like the trees similarly situated in Lake 

 George and Lake Bathurst, to what long periods the extremes of 

 drought and moisture have extended, and may again extend in 

 this singular country" (vol. ii., p. 34). Our eminent astronomer 

 and meteorologist, Mr. Russell, has devoted much time to the 

 history of Lake George, and has shown that, during periods of 

 drought (as appeared from the statement of the blacks and also 



