115 SELECT PLANTS FOK INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



South Wales. A superior timber tree, of large size according 

 to the Rev. Dr. Woolls, the wood being much prized for its 

 strength and durability. It has proved one of the best adapt- 

 ed for a tropical clime, although not so rapid of growth as 

 some other species. It grew 45 feet in ten or twelve years at 

 Lucknow, according to Dr. Bonavia, but in the best soil it has 

 attained 12 feet in two years. 



Eucalyptus robusta, Smith. 



New South Wales. The timber in use for ship-building, wheel- 

 wright's work and many implements, such as mallets, &c. 



Eucalyptus rostrata, Schlechtendal.* 



The Red Gum Tree of Southern Australia and many river 

 flats in the interior of the Australian continent, nearly always 

 found on moist ground with a clayey subsoil. It will thrive 

 in soil periodically inundated for a considerable time, and even 

 in slightly saline ground. Attains exceptionally a height of 

 200 feet and a comparatively stout stem, but is mostly of a 

 more spreading habit of growth than the majority of its tall 

 congeners. Mr. R. G. Drysdale, of the Riverina district, 

 observed that an exceptional temperature of 125° F. in the 

 shade did not shrivel the foliage of this tree ; it has also 

 withstood the severest heat in Algeria better than E. globulus ; 

 and Dr. Bonavia found it to thrive well in the province of 

 Oude in places where E. globulus, E. obliqua, and E. mar- 

 ginata perished under the extreme vicissitudes of the cHme. 

 In Mauritius and Reunion it resisted the hurricanes better than 

 any other Eucalypt; in the latter island the Marquis 

 de Chateauvieux observed it to grow 65 feet in 6 years, and it 

 is always found more quickly growing than E. marginata, but 

 less so than E. globulus. It is recommended as an antisep- 

 tic tree for cemeteries in tropical countries. The timber 

 among that of Eucalypts is the most highly esteemed in all 

 Australia, being heavy, hard, strong, and extremely durable, 

 either above or under ground, or in wa-ter. For these reasons 

 it is highly prized for fence-posts, piles, and railway sleepers ; 

 for the latter purpose it will last at least a dozen years, but if 

 well selected much longer ; whenever practicable the Govern- 

 ment of Victoria has discarded the use of any other timber for 

 railways and bridges, in favour of this tree. It is also exten- 

 sively employed by ship-builders for main-stem, stern-post, 

 inner-post, dead wood, floor-timbers, futtocks, transoms, 

 knighthead, hawse-pieces, cant, stern, quarter and fashion 

 timbers, bottom planks, breast-hooks and riders, windlass^ low 



