November 14; 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
369 
the crops have been nearly a failure. Last year I lost all 
except those I planted against a wall. This year on June Ist I 
planted two hundred plants, half of them in the open and the 
others in frames. For the first four or five weeks the plants in 
the open and tied to stakes grew remarkably strong, having 
every attention they required. On August 12th I noticed just 
as they began to colour the disease also appeared on some of 
the finest fruit. All the plants were strong and healthy. Out of 
fifteen bushels gathered there was not more than one bushel 
saleable. Those planted in the frames fared but little better, 
although every care was taken to keep them as dry as possible. 
Several other growers in the neighbourhood were in a similar 
position ; one in particular planted about four thousand plants 
in the open field, and the lot was quite a failure. Can anyone 
of your readers inform me if plants plunged in pots will pre- 
vent disease, the growths being trained on a trellis either in a 
house or frames ?—AMATEUR. 
THE EUCALYPTUS IN ALGERIA. 
I HAVE seen an interesting notice of the growth of the 
Eucalyptus globulus at Muckross Abbey in the Jow'nal of 
Horticulture. tis but right that some effort should be made 
to popularise this tree in Great Britain; and at a time when 
we have become possessed of the Isle of Cyprus, renowned 
in antiquity for its fertility, and that fertility has been 
seriously interfered with by the ruthless destruction of its 
forests, it may not be amiss to bring before your readers some 
information gathered specially for their benefit within the 
last few days, so that they may know somewhat of the plant 
which is being so extensively cultivated in Algeria at public 
and private expense. The reason that euides its cutivation 
here is that which will guide the English to plant itin Cyprus. 
Algeria at the time of the Roman occupation abounded in 
forests (springs of water were not so rare then as now), but 
the Arab came, and with his race gradually fell the timber, 
never to rise again, for the Arabs thought not of the morrow, 
and planted nought. The French in 1830 found Algeria a 
wasted treeless desert country, but guided by the fact that to 
plant trees is to make a country healthy and fit for colonisa- 
‘tion they planted the Mulberry, the Plane, and the Cypress. 
A tree of quicker growth, however, than these was needed, 
and was found in the Eucalyptus. 
To the discovery of the Eucalyptus the French lay claim in 
the person. of an officer of the French naval service, himself a 
distinguished naturalist, who was. attached to an expedition 
which anchored off Tasmania in 1792, by name Labillardieére. 
‘The French do not seem to have in any way utilised the dis- 
covery of the tree, which has been brought to the front more 
by the growth of our own Australian colonies than aught else. 
In 1854, through the exertions of a Mr. Ramel (a French- 
man), seed was sent over, and the tree propagated in France, 
and it would appear that through his constant writings respect- 
ing its hygienic and medicinal properties it began to be looked 
upon as likely to play an important part in creating forests in 
Algeria. 
In 1863 Mr. André, gardener in chief to the city of Paris, 
wrote pointing out how, notwithstanding its rapid growth, 
Eucalyptus globulus is denser than any other wood, its specific 
gravity exceeding even Teak; and recently we find India, the 
country of the Teak, drawing immense supphes of Eucalyptus 
timber from Tasmania, principally for railway sleepers. 
Public attention haying been thus drawn to the tree. a Mr. 
Trottier in 1862 first caused some plantations to be made of 
it on his property near Algiers, and very soon the valuable 
properties it possesses showed themselves. 
Rapid growth in a country denuded of trees has hastened its 
general introduction. An Eucalyptus (Blue Gum) grows some 
19 inches per month in its first year, provided the soil be rich 
and suitable. At ten years of age the trees will be 55 to 60 
feet high, and at the ripe age of one hundred years may even 
reach 500 feet, which is the height of some actually measured in 
Australia, while the diameter close to the soil was found to be 
30 feet. Add to this wonderful growth the persistency of its 
leaves, and in this country—where the hot wind of the desert 
blows with terrific force, often at 107°, as I have felt and tested 
myself—it can be readily seen how the thoughtful farmer by 
planting to the south and west of his crops creates a wind 
break of immense value, while at the same time he is growing 
the mateyials for future use in erecting his farm buildings, for 
sale as telegraph poles or railway sleepers, &c. 
The principal planters of the Eucalyptus outside the govern- 
ment are Mr. Trottier, Mr. Cordier, Mr. Arlés Dufour, La 
Société Algérienne, Mr. Playfair, and the Railway Company. 
Mr. Trottier has some 93 acres of flourishing plantations, a 
great part of which are close to Algiers, and worthy a visit. 
Mr. Cordier planted his first two trees of EH. globulus in 
1863. Since 1864 his faith in the future of this tree is so 
great that he has annually planted some two thousand, either 
in blocks or in lines, so that at the present time he is owner of 
some twenty-five thousand thriving trees. In April, 1876, 
Mr. Cordier made out a list showing that he had growing on 
his plantations 119 different species, and I believe he is 
engaged noting carefully and experimentally the different 
soil each requires, which are suitable for growth in the plain 
or on the mountain slope, which species will bear drought, and 
which requires humidity. 
Supposing the English Government required to plant Euca- 
lyptus in Cyprus, there is no man here except our indefatie- 
able and learned Consul, Lieut.-Col. Playfair, so well fitted to 
advise upon the proper species to plant, &c., as Mr. Cordier. 
The plantations of Mr. Arlés Dufour are situated about the 
centre of the plain of the Mitidja, in what was formerly a 
marshy district, and it was more particularly with the object 
of modifying the force of the south-west winds as they passed 
over his lands that this gentleman has bestowed such a large 
amount of care and attention to the culture of the Eucalyptus. 
A few days ago I drove from the seashore across the Sahel, 
or low mountain range separating the plain from the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. As the summit is reached, the road making a 
sudden bend discloses to view the magnificent panorama, of the 
Mitidja plain. From the vast expanse of burnt-up earth and 
waste land as it appears after an Algerian summer the eye 
instinctively sought relief by resting upon a great mass of dark 
green vegetation, the oiisis of this apparent desert. 
This mass of foliage marked the Eucalyptus plantations of 
Mr. Arlés Dufour, arranged as vast curtains formed of twenty 
thousand trees to form the wind breaks I have already spoken 
of. Away in the distance could be distinguished the site of 
the Arab village Benit Amoo, marked by its proximity to 
Orange groves and an Eucalyptus plantation, the property of 
the son ‘of our Consul Lieut.-Col. Playfair, who is about to 
devote his energies and agricultural education more particu- 
larly to the farming of the Eucalyptus, which is expected to 
yield handsome returns on the investment. 
Further away still is the town of Bonjurik, marked by its 
groves of magnificent Plane trees and the Eucalyptus planta- 
tions, of Mr. Gros and others. La Société Algérienne have 
three plantations, one of ten thousand trees on the borders of 
a lake, two others of respectively ten thousand and twenty 
thousand trees. Of these a third average seven years of age, 
and are now being cut down, and find a ready sale as tele- 
graph posts, supports for mines, &c. ; globulus and resinifera 
are the two species cultivated by them. Acting for a second 
party the same Company have elsewhere plantations of one 
hundred thousand trees each. The Railway Company count 
on the borders of its line some four millions of trees, the 
majority now being Eucalypti. A few parts of the line 
remind one of the grateful shade afforde those who travel in 
America by the forest trees through which the iron horse 
ploughs his way. 
Considering that it is only some fifteen years since the plant- 
ing of the Hucalyptus tree commenced in earnest, it may be 
considered an evidence of successful introduction when I in- 
form your readers that the total number of trees at present in 
growth is estimated at not less than 1,500,000.—ARTHUR 
TopD, Algeria. : 
ANNUALS AS CUT FLOWERS. 
ESCHSCHOLTZIA CROCEA FLORE-PLENO. 
I GROW a good quantity of the branching Larkspur mainly 
for supplying cut flowers during the autumn months, not that 
it is unavailable for this purpose earlier in the year, as, in fact, 
it comes into bloom in July; but it is at this season that a 
call for an increased quantity of cut flowers is made on us, 
and some of the varieties of this Larkspur are in many respects 
fitted for this purpose. The whole of the varieties are equally 
free-blooming and hardy, but the white and crimson shades 
of the flowers are the most useful. Ina cut state they last a 
long time. I sow in the beginning of April and give the 
plants plenty of room for development. - 
Eschscholtzia crocea is another excellent annual for producing 
material for cutting from. Cut at the proper stage of develop- - 
ment the buds have all the appearance of a deep-coloured Tea 
