IV.— INDIGENOUS VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 



In the following very imperfect sketch of the resources which 

 the indigenous vegetation furnishes to the colony, it has not 

 been attempted to enumerate all the uses of the native plants, 

 as far as they have been hitherto ascertained. 



Many of these, although of local advantage to the districts 

 in which they occur, are not such as to equal or supersede 

 similar productions used in other countries ; some are not 

 sufficiently abundant to become available for export, and the 

 properties with which providential nature undoubtedly has 

 endowed numerous others, are not yet revealed to the scru- 

 tinizing eye of the scientific observer, or subjected to the tests 

 of the practical artisan. 



Many, indeed, of the species which constitute our flora have 

 only of late received their systematic position, but thus we 

 may henceforward at least reduce to exact bases those obser- 

 vations on their practical utility, which have hitherto been 

 instituted or shall be made in future time. 



Allusion has, therefore, only been made on this occasion to 

 what we have already learnt to acknowledge as belonging to 

 the. main treasures of the indigenous vegetable empire. This, 

 however, will suffice to show, that our colony possesses in this 

 direction also ample means for the exercise of native industry. 

 In grouping the plants according to the products which they 

 furnish, we cannot fail to be at once attracted by the manifold 

 variety, the abundance, the colossal size, or the durability of 

 many of our native timbers. 



First in importance stands the bluegum tree (Eucalyptus 

 globulus). It is identical with the Tasmanian species, and 

 constitutes, in many of the humid coast tracts, the main part 

 of the forest. In durability, and in gigantic size, it yields to 

 few trees of any part of the globe. Individual trees have 

 - been found attaining a height of 300 feet, while those of 200 

 feet are by no means rare in favorable rich sheltered parts of 

 the forest valleys, and their trunks are generally of a beautiful 

 straightness. The tree attains, in about eighty years, its full 

 height, and increases afterwards more in circumference than 

 in height. The hardness of its timber has rendered it es- 

 teemed far beyond the limits of the colony, and thus a lucra- 

 tive trade has sprung up in supplying it for railroad sleepers 



