July 2, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



319 



larity, and at times drooped as if weary or discouraged in try- 

 ing to find something upon which it might entwine itself. 



Thus far no opportunity had been given the plant to climb, 

 since it was desirable to see what it would do to meet the ab- 

 sence of some support. On the 26th a new route of travel was 

 undertaken at six o'clock in the morning, and at nine o'clock 

 the extremity, which was near the floor, at the left side of the 

 pot, had described a circle six inches in diameter. It then 

 slowly swept around to the right side and made another irreg- 

 ular circle, and then returned to the left side of the pot; these 

 movements occupied just twelve hours. The track of the tip 

 of the vine was carefully traced with a pencil upon a sheet of 

 paper laid beneath it, and the entire line of travel measured 

 no less than six feet nine inches. 



During the evening the plant became quiet, and probably 

 remained so all night. At ten A. M. the next day, however, it 

 began pointing its tip in various directions, and at noon as- 

 sumed the form of a corkscrew, about four inches long', which 

 posture it retained until night and then straightened out. 



On May 1st the vine was lifted and tied to a vertical support 

 — a large thread — where it remained entirely quiescent for two 

 days. Then it began growing again as if it had recovered 

 from what had been for six days a condition near the point of 

 death. 



Another vine was observed carefully during several days of 

 cloudy weather. It uncoiled itself from the stick and reached 

 away toward the light at an angle with the horizon of some 

 forty-five degrees. It was carefully recoiled about its stick, 

 but after it had grown some three inches more it unwound 

 itself and stood away toward the window as before. Time 

 after time during the continuance of the cloudy weather 

 it was brought back to its support, but invariably left it. Then 

 followed a fortnight of bright, sunny weather during which 

 the vine showed no disposition to escape from its stick or 

 stop its twining growth. 



Attempts were made to induce another plant to twine in the 

 direction opposite to its normal one, but no ingenuity could 

 deceive the plant as to its proper course. All the experiments 

 seemed to show how much like an animal was the plant in its 

 sensitiveness, not only to changes of light and temperature, 

 but to harsh treatment. Whenever restrained or forced, no 

 matter how tenderly, out of its natural method of growth, all 

 progress was retarded and the health of the vines disturbed 

 in a marked degree. Plants seem to be creatures of feeling 

 and the similarity of movement and of apparent purpose be- 

 tween them and the lower orders of animals are used to 

 strengthen their theory by those who hold to the doctrine of 

 the identity of life in the two kingdoms. 

 Erie, Pa. T. D. Ingersoll. 



The Blue Gum Tree. 



THE Australian Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus, has become 

 one of the most prominent and characteristic features in 

 southern California forestry. A tall, slender tree, attaining to 

 an immense height, this native of Van Dieman's Land and 

 Australia has taken firm root upon the Pacific coast. 



Many a hillside and plain — a few years ago treeless, parched 

 and brown — has been transformed into a mass of living green, 

 furnishing the refreshment of shade and filling the air with 

 a health-giving.grateful fragrance, through the slight encourage- 

 ment given to this tree by man. From Eureka to Eusenada — 

 a distance of nearly a thousand miles — this tree has steadily 

 gained in favor. In its native land it grows to a height of 

 three hundred and fifty feet, with a diameter of fifteen feet and 

 more. Already many of the older trees on the coast range 

 are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height. 



A forest of Eucalyptus is something magnificent. Stately in 

 proportions, the trees tower tall and straight above any of our 

 indigenous species in the south, growing so close together 

 as to form an almost impenetrable shade. Altogether it 

 is a spectacle to gladden one's eyes in this " dry and thirsty 

 land." Millions are already planted, and hundreds of thous- 

 ands are annually planted because of the valuable qualities of 

 the Eucalyptus as a forest-tree. Quick in its growth, it is an 

 unfailing source of supply of fuel and valuable timber in a 

 land where wood and lumber are scarce. 



In San Diego County these trees are extensively grown for 

 fuel, but thousands of them are also annually planted for their 

 beauty, as shade or ornamental trees in parks and along ave- 

 nues, while other thousands are planted as wind-breaks to 

 young orchards, for which use they are well adapted. 



The Eucalyptus is easily propagated from the seed, a pound 

 of which may be obtained for five dollars. From this quantity 

 of good seed over three thousand trees can be raised. 

 The first seedlings sold in California, imported from Australia, 



sold at auction for five dollars apiece. To-day they are worth 

 a cent a plant. 



The Eucalyptus thrives on the poorest soil, and once estab- 

 lished firmly requires no further care or attention. It seems 

 to do best on the sandy bottoms, but may also be made to do 

 well on the higher mesa lands if once it is able to establish itself, 

 when it will send its roots down a long way where it can get an 

 unfailing water supply. That its culture on cheap lands is ex- 

 ceedingly profitable needs no further demonstration in Cali- 

 fornia. A Eucalyptus-forest may be cut down once in every 

 five (some say three) years to advantage, when new shoots 

 will start from the stumps and a new forest arises from 

 the ruins of the old, and without the first expense of 

 either plowing, cultivating or irrigating, since the roots are 

 already established* vigorous, healthy and uninjured by the 

 fall of the parent trunk. 



In the presence of the invigorating fragrance exhaled by this 

 tree, fevers and malaria largely lose their terrors. In Califor- 

 nia, a dry, pure atmosphere like ours, the valuable quality 

 of this tree, its anti-febrile properties, has naturally been largely 

 lost sight of, as compared with other more important interests. 

 The tree absorbs water with surprising facility, and it is this 

 that is considered by many the basis of its prophylactic proper- 

 ties. 



The Blue Gum of Fever-tree was introduced into Paris 

 by the French government in i860, and was subsequently 

 planted in Africa, Spain, Italy and portions of France, 

 where many large forests have been produced. In 1875 the 

 City Council of Houston, Texas, decided to give the tree a trial 

 in view of the yellow fever epidemics that had periodically 

 filled the city with mourning. During 1875-76 the city was 

 freer than usual from the disease, and in 1877-78, according 

 to the Health Officers' report, was one of the healthiest cities 

 in the Union. As to the subsequent experience of that city I 

 have no data at hand. 



The Eucalyptus shows remarkable celerity of growth, hav- 

 ing attained a height of sixty feet in eleven. years, and in India 

 its growth has been yet more rapid. In Mexico it has suc- 

 ceeded remarkably well at elevations of from 2,500 to 7,000 

 feet. It has withstood a temperature of nineteen degrees F., 

 but generally succumbs at seventeen degrees F. Frost will kill 

 the young trees. 



The timber is used for a great variety of purposes, in ship- 

 building, and in all kinds of out-door work. It is about equal 

 in quality to the best English Oak and to the American Ash, 

 and if Californians will have the patience to grow the tree for 

 timber rather than for fuel — as they now do almost exclusively 

 — they might expect yet handsomer returns from its culture 

 than now. 



The tree is remarkably free of any disease and of insect 

 pests; moths, mosquitoes, fleas and other insects are said to 

 forsake a room where the leaf branches of the Eucalyptus are 

 freely scattered about. 



Notwithstanding there are over one hundred and fifty species 

 of the Eucalyptus, E. globulus alone has met with widely ex- 

 tended popular favor in California. Several others like the 

 Red Gum and the Iron-bark seem to thrive equally well with 

 us and are gaining ground. 



Thanks to this friendly genus it is only a question of a cen- 

 tury or less before the now desert-like plains of southern Cali- 

 fornia can be covered with a growth of gigantic trees. 



San Diego, Cal. 



C, R. Orcutt. 



Nematodes and the Oat Crop. 



THE Oat crop at the time of writing throughout New Jersey 

 gives all the signs of failure. Many farmers have 

 already plowed the fields again for some other crop, while 

 many more are anxious to know what to do. In general ap- 

 pearance the Oat-plant is dwarfed, and nearly all the leaves, 

 especially the lower ones, are brown and dead. As the wheat, 

 rye and grass crops have been badly attacked this spring by 

 the aphis or grain louse, many farmers have ascribed the 

 wretched appearance of the oats to the same enemy, but I 

 am assured by Professor Smith that the aphis cannot be held 

 responsible for a great part of the destruction that is so wide- 

 spread among the Oats of the state. Therefore it seemed ad- 

 visable to make a microscopic examination of the diseased 

 plants in order to discover whether the cause of this disaster 

 was not some parasitic fungus. Specimens in root, stem and 

 leaf, from several localities, have been examined, and nothing 

 in the nature of a rust, smut, mildew, mould or blight was 

 found. It may be true that a low form of organism belonging 

 to the group of bacteria is the cause of the unhealthy growth. 



