PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 351 
THE EUCALYPTUS. 
The United States possesses such an extent of country, with great variety 
of soils, all graduations of elevation from several hundred feet below sea level in 
the Southern portion of California to three miles above in the Rocky Mountains. 
All conditions of rainfall and of aridity must be considered in planting forests or 
continuing the life of those now in existence. 
In the sub-tropic regions of Southern Florida the Gulf Coast of Texas, 
through Arizona and southern half of California, conditions prevail which are 
favorable to the growth of the Eucalyptus, and if the land owners can be shown 
the high value of this tree, ease with which it may be grown, and more especially 
the folly of former and present methods of pruning this magnificent tree, it can 
be made of vast importance to the regions to which it is adapted. 
It is necessary, first, to state that the various Eucalpyti are confined to locali- 
ties free from frosts or at least severe frosts, hence it will not succeed in our 
middle or even the southern states except within the territory above named. 
It is my purpose in this sketch to speak of this tree from a practical stand- 
point only, showing some of the uses to which it has been and may be put, how to 
plant and cultivate the tree, where to plant, etc. 
As to uses. The first and most natural service is to be found in the remark- 
able beauty of the tree growing in arid and treeless sections. In California, along 
the highways, the tree with its towering foliage lends remarkable relief to an 
otherwise barren and desolate landscape. Not only as a shade, but also as a relief 
to the monotony of the view, it is worth while to plant it. But so far the most 
practical use to which it has been put, aside from its forestry effect on the rain- 
fall, is as a domestic fuel supply. On account of its well-known rapid growth, 
groves planted twenty-five to forty years have been supplying cooking fuel for 
vears, and while as a fuel it does not rank with the hardwoods, yet considering 
that it makes a growth in twenty-five years equal to the hardwoods in 
three hundred years, its value may readily be appreciated. I have seen 
trees that made as. many as seven cords of stove wood, and after standing 
ricked for a few weeks it burned freely, enabling a meal to be prepared 
in a few minutes, and making the maximum fuel yield in the shortest time from 
any fuel available in that state. While it ranks as a “soft wood,” yet when cut a 
very short time, the grain being rather fine, it becomes very hard to cut, indicating 
that for framing material in coarse construction work, the timber may be very 
useful. In construction of barns and outbuildings there is no reason why this new 
timber may not become an important and economical factor. 
