' EUCALYPTUS TREES. 133 



tree to obtain its nuts or to plait its leaves ; so, also 

 a resident in our forests might obtain from a grove 

 of our hardy Palms, if still any are left in this land of 

 Canaan, an annual income by harvesting the seeds as 

 one of the most costly articles of horticultural export. 

 Speaking of Palms, let me observe that the tall 

 Wax Palm of New Granada (Ceroxlyon andicola) 

 extends almost to the snow - line. It is needless to 

 add that we might grow this magnificent product of 

 andine vegetation in many localities of the country 

 of our own adoption. Each stem yields annually 

 about twenty-flve pounds of a waxy, resinous coat- 

 ing, which when melted together with tallow forms 

 an exquisite composition for candles. Chamserops 

 Fortunei, a Chinese Fan Palm of considerable height, 

 is here hardy, like in South Europe ; so would be, prob- 

 ably, the Gingerbread Palni (Hyphaene Thebaica). 

 Of the value of some Palms we may form an appreci- 

 ation when we reflect that Elais Guineensis, which 

 at the end of this century should be productive in 

 Queensland and North-west Australia, yields from 

 the fleshy outer portion of its nut the commercially 

 famed Palm - oil, prepared much in the manner of 

 Olive-oil ; the value of this African Palm-oil import- 

 ed in 1861 into England was two millions sterling, 

 the demand for it for soap manufacture, and railway 

 engines-and carriages, being enormous.* The Chilean 

 Jubaea or Coquito Palm grows spontaneously as far 

 south as the latitude of Swan Hill, and is rich in a 

 melliginous sap.f A Date Palm planted now would 

 still be in full bearing two hundred years hence. 



*The import of Palm-oil into Britain during 1868 was nearly a million 

 cwt. (960.059 owt.) . 



t Each tree yields ninety gallons of sap at a time, useQ for the preparation 

 of palm-honey. 

 *7 



