94 FOREST CUIiTUBE AND 



of tree or other plant, inasmuch as necessarily the per- 

 centage must fluctuate according to the nature of the 

 soil, this, again, depending on geologic structure and 

 the quality and quantity of decaying foliage on any 

 particular spot. It should, however, not be quite for- 

 gotten that most plants have a predilection for that 

 soil which contains, in regions otherwise fevorable to 

 them, also due proportions of such mineral particles as 

 are essentially necessary for the normal nutrition of 

 the peculiar species ; for, otherwise, in the wild com- 

 bat for space it would succumb or cede before the 

 more legitimate occupant of such soil. Hence, at a 

 glance, even from long distances, we may recognize 

 in many of our forest regions an almost abrupt line 

 of demarcation between the gregarious trees, where 

 one geologic formation meets or replaces the other. 

 Thus, trees richer in potash, or oils, or any other 

 product, may often be traced with ease over their 

 geologic area, for which purpose the admirable maps 

 of Mr. Selwyn and his collaborators afford us here in 

 Victoria also in this respect already so very much 

 facility. 



I have often been led to think that many an indi- 

 gent person might find employment by collecting the 

 wood-ashes, which, as a powerful manure, or as ma- 

 terial for a local potash-factory, ought to realize a fair 

 price. Such an employment would be probably as 

 lucrative as collecting glass, or bones, or substances 

 for paper-mills, while the ashes, now largely wasted, 

 would be fully utilized. 



It may be assumed that, at an average, the ash of 

 our ordinary. Eucalypts contains ten per cent, of crude 

 potash^ equal to about Ave per cent, pure pote^sh, A 



