EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 



for mere garden- or park-purposes long before, yet its enormous superiority over nearly or 

 actually all other species of Eucalyptus and indeed any other kinds of hardwood-trees in celerity 

 of growth and general ease of rearing was then not at all appreciated, notwithstanding that 

 Dehnhardt already had raised this Eucalyptus for open-air culture in the earlier part of the 

 century (at least as early as 1829), as proved by an authentic specimen in his collection of dried 

 plants, kindly placed at my disposal for identification of the species by Baron Vincent Cesati, the 

 Director of the botanic garden of Naples* ; the tree was named by him E. gigantea, thus must 

 have attained already a large size under his care. It may be incidentally remarked, that two of 

 the most important of all other Eucalypts for cultural purposes, namely E. rostrata and E. amyg- 

 dalina, were also already in an up-growing state at Dehnhardt's time in the Royal botanic garden 

 of Naples. 



It was through His Grace, Dr. J. A. Goold, R. C. Archbishop of Melbourne, that plantations 

 of E. globulus were first established for subduing the miasmatic exhalations of the Pontinian 

 swamps, as mentioned in a letter of this highly distinguished prelate to the author of this work 

 under date of 17th December 1879 : " The Eucalyptus globulus was first raised in the Campagna 

 from seeds, kindly presented to me by you on my visit to Rome in 1869, to attend the Vatican 

 General Council. I handed the seeds to the Superior of the Trappist-Monks, who then occupied 

 the monastery and grounds of the Ire Fontane, a most fever-stricken locality. On my next visit 

 to Rome, made a few years later, I had the pleasure to see the good results of your kind and 

 thoughtful presentation in the vigorous growth of many Gum-trees, acting most wholesomely on 

 poisonous air of that part of the Campagna. The religious able clever men, chiefly French, were 

 most grateful for the gracious gift." Thus through the enlightened circumspectness of our 

 dignified chief of an ancient church the sanitary improvements on the fever-swamps were initiated 

 with prospects of that permanency, for which the plans and works of drainage since the time of 

 Appius Claudius (long before the Christian era) had vainly striven, and in the prosecution of 

 which the overpowering force of nature had baffled the exertions of Julius Cajsar, Trajanus and 

 many of the subsequent rulers of Rome up to recent history. 



The degree of resistance of E. globulus against frost depends to some extent, as in the case of 

 many other kinds of trees, on the age of the individual plant, on the moister or drier situation of 

 its growth and also on the greater or lesser shelter against wind. Thus up-grown trees of 

 E. globulus did not suffer at all during the extraordinarily cold winter of 1879-80 at Antibes, 

 when once in December the temperature sunk even as low as 15 F., the trees standing probably 

 in a sheltered position, when E. melliodora and some other congeners lost part of their foliage. 

 Prince Troubetzkoy observed at Lago Maggiore, that E. globulus stood there a cold of 21 F. 

 Drs. Fedeli and Lanzi stated that a temperature of 21 F. only injured the young shoots, 

 and the monks of Tre Fontane, after repeated observation, maintain, that the tree will bear a 

 temperature of 17 F. ; all this is in fair consonance with our local experiences here. In the cool 

 elevated but sheltered region, surrounding the alpine height of Mount Buller, I observed snow 

 in large masses to lodge sometimes for protracted periods on the branches of Euc. globulus, 

 eventually injuring even strong limbs, but the stem and main branches remaining unhurt and 

 pushing sprigs and foliage anew in the spring. In the singularly mild clime of the island of Arran, 

 though nearly 56 north, E. globulus survived unscathed the excessively severe winter of 1878- 

 1879, with Acacia decurrens, Dicksonia antarctica, D. squarrosa, Cyathea medullaris, Cordyline 



* See NUOTO Giornale Botanico Italiano xii. 47. 



