277 



Commissioner F. Booth Tucker,of the Headquarters of the Salvation Army, who 

 has resided in India for very many years, during which time he has given particular 

 attention to Eucalyptus, and who has travelled in Australia, writes to me in June, 1924, 

 concerning E. tereticomis. He sent seed of the " Ani " variety " from our Himalayan 

 Eucalypti. It grows at an elevation of 4.000 feet. The trees are mature, having been 

 there for about thirty years, and attaining a good height. Thev appear to be of the 

 tereticomis species, and do well in all parts of India. We- are now trying them in 

 England." 



Further, as regards India, the following admirable statement by Mr. R. N. 

 Parker, F.C.H., Forest Botanist, Forest Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun. 

 U.P.. India, dated 25th October. 1923, has been specially prepared for me, and is 

 published with his kind permission. See also his " Forest Flora of the Punjab, &c.' J 

 (2nd ed., Lahore, 1924) :— 



Eucalypts were first tried in Northern India in or about the year 1860. The reason for so much 

 attention having been paid to trees of this genus was undoubtedly at first the belief that they might be 

 beneficial in reducing the incidence of malaria. The great success of various species of the genus in the 

 Nilghiri Hills, where E. globulus Labill. was first grown in 1843, led to the starting of plantations by Govern- 

 ment in 1862 with the object of supplying cheap fuel and timber to the settlements in the hills of Southern 

 India. It was not unnaturally hoped that similar success would be obtained in North India, where about 

 this time much anxiety was felt regarding the fuel supply owing to the rapid extension of railways which 

 at that time consumed mainly wood fuel. Consequently Eucalypts were tried all over Northern India, 

 both at Government Horticultural and Botanic Gardens, and by the Forest Department. The species 

 tried at first were mainly those from S. E. Australia, doubtless because the seed of these species from that 

 area had given good results in the Nilghiris. 



In considering the results it is necessary to deal with two areas separately, viz., the plains and low 

 hills up to 3,000 or 5,000 feet, i.e., the level to which the snow descends in winter and the hills above this 

 level and up to 8,000 feet. 



In the plains it was found that the species that had proved successful in the Nilghiris would not 

 thrive, and as early as 1876 Sir D. Brandis, Inspector General of Forests (Indian Forester, II, 1876, 

 pp. 136-144) recommended only two species out of all those that had been tried. These two were E. rostrata 

 Schl. and E. resinifera Sm. The latter was undoubtedly not E. resinifera Sm., which has since been proved 

 to be quite unsuited to the plains of North India, but E. tereticomis Sm. At the same time he recommended 

 trying species from the more tropical parts of Australia. Since this date it is doubtful if a single year has 

 passed without E. globulus having been tried somewhere in North India, as its behaviour during the first 

 few years is apt to be very deceptive. As a rule, when planted out, E. globulus dies as soon as the monsoon 

 rains commence, but occasionally it will live and even grow fairly rapidly for a year or two, after which 

 it either ceases growth and lingers on for some years more or dies suddenly. Many other species behave 

 in exactly the same way, so that reports relating to the growth of young trees are very unreliable. 



Up to date over 100 species of Eucalyptus have been tried in the plains of North India and the growth 

 of several kinds is so good that it has led to many attempts to establish plantations. 



At only one place, viz., Kapurthala, on sandy soil, with a high subsoil water level have these efforts 

 resulted, in establishing anything approaching a regular plantation. Elsewhere the result has always been 

 a few trees or scattered groups of trees doing well and a mass of rubbishy plants which refuse to grow. 

 The reason for the failure of almost every attempt to make plantations using species known to thrive is 

 sometimes white ants, which may kill many of the plants by eating the roots, though they do not appear 

 to injure any species once it has reached a height of 8 or 10 feet. Sometimes heavy rain during the monsoon ; 

 followed as it so often is, by a spell of hot muggy weather with very still air, kills off thousands of plants, 

 especially if they are less than 1 foot high. At other times it is not very evident what the cause of the 



