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2. THEIR HORTICULTURAL VALUE. 



The value of Eucalypts for purely horticultural purposes has not yet been fully 

 ascertained. In the countries of Northern Europe, the glaucousness and comparative 

 hardiness of E. globulus and E. Maideni are freely taken advantage of in shrubberies, 

 and in temporary ornamental plantings in the open air during the warmer months, 

 since they make very striking objects when young. Afterwards they become straggly? 

 and also suffer from the effects of winters. Such species as E. Planchoniana and 

 E. eximia, which require a warmer climate (say Mediterranean conditions) have a 

 totally different appearance, and, when young, say up to 15 feet high, furnish charming 

 substitutes for such plants as the Copper Beech and Primus Pissardi. They are not 

 so compact as these small trees, and their young coloured leaves are succeeded by 

 green ones. The young trees are quaintly straggly, and with sparse, pendulous, long, 

 dull-green foliage, giving them an artistic appearance. 



I would suggest that more attention be given to the horticultural side of 

 Eucalyptus. Nurserymen will find that the industry will, however, never get a firm 

 hold until there is a wider knowledge of seedlings. To order a certain species, and to be 

 supplied with an unmeritorious substitute (as I have often known to be the case) 

 may cause a would-be student of the genus to lose interest in these distinctly Australian 

 plants. 



3. VALUE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF SEEDLINGS 

 TO THE FORESTER, NURSERYMAN, AND 

 GARDENER. 



It may be truly said that the appearance of the Eucalyptus seedling is almost 

 unknown to the nurseryman, whether he grows plants for the forester, or for the 

 gardener responsible for private or public gardens and parks, or for street-planting. 



Apart from the inherent difficulty of the subject (and my researches are but an 

 attempt to stimulate inquiry), the forester knows, or should know, that the recognition 

 of seedlings in a forest is attended with great difficulty, and requires exercise of all the 

 caution with which he has been endowed. In a pure forest, correct determination may 

 be simple, but the tyro knows that because a seedling has germinated at the foot of a 

 tree, that that tree may not necessarily be its parent. We know that seeds may be 

 scattered by the wind, transported by rain-waters, or in the manure of herbivora. 



