EUCALYPTUS TBEES. 13 



a part of the landscape around ; and thus the taste is 

 gratified almost as soon as the work is done. In a few 

 years more his woods yield shelter from the winds, 

 and thus increase the value of the lands around, while 

 it is rarely beyond the expectatipns of human life to 

 look for a direct profit from the wood as it advances 

 to maturity. To expend capital on planting, indeed, 

 is merely to lay out a fund to increase at interest. 

 Planting, then, may be readily rendered the means, 

 on the part of a landed proprietor, of setting aside a 

 fund for any specific purpose — as for a provision for a 

 family ; and no man is deemed peculiarly disinterest- 

 ed who merely obeys a dictate of reason and humanity 

 and provides for his descendants. The planter, then, 

 has his motives of rational interest to justify him in 

 the opinion of those who look only to gain. He lays 

 out his capital with a view to a profitable return. He 

 improves the value of his estate, while, in the prac- 

 tice of his art, he finds the materials of an innocent 

 recreation. It may be questioned whether, in the 

 whole range of rural occupations, one more interesting 

 pursuit presents itself than the superintendence of a 

 growing wood, presenting to the eye at every season 

 new objects of interest and solicitude. "Where is the 

 planter who would wish the workmanship of his hands 

 undone, and who does not look with an honest pride 

 on the beautiful creation which, with a generous spirit, 

 he has raised up around him ?" 



These considerations present a problem not difiicult 

 of solution — possibly difficult to educate land-owners 

 of their truthfulness. 



We must make the people familiar with the facts 

 and the necessities of the case. It must come to be 



*2 



