394 



A -THE DESIRABILITY OF STUDYING EUCALYPTUS IN 



THE BUSH. 



Preparation for Botanical Travel. 



Aid in the Study of Geography. 



Necessity for quoting the Name of a Collector. 



Ecology. 



Examination of Organs and General Appearance in the Bush. 



The Aesthetic Aspect of the Genus. 



Preparation for Botanical Travel. 

 As I have travelled a good deal in all the States, I am in a position to give my 

 younger friends some practical advice (if they want it). I use the old-fashioned 

 pocket-books, with an elastic band, and keep a separate pocket-book for each locality 

 or district. Thus, for the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, I have several books, 

 one for each collecting ground, e.g., Glenbrook, Blackheath. Every trip is dated, and 

 sign-posts, mile-posts, and other indications of locality carefully recorded, as helping 

 to indicate where specimens were found. T write only on one side of a page, so that 

 there is always a blank one for a supplementary note. When I go on a trip to the same 

 locality, the old note-book of that locality accompanies me, for one may supplement 

 the material formerly obtained, and on a subsequent trip one always reads one's note- 

 book with a wider knowledge. It is well to date the later observations. If one has 

 published notes from a note-book, a vertical line through the passage thus used does 

 not interfere with its legibility. If the note-book is carefully posted up as regards 

 localities, it is often useful to inquiring friends who desire detail particulars from one 

 who has actually trodden the ground. In our vast country, it is not surprising 

 that details of this kind are often valuable. I have sometimes been to the Tourist 

 Bureau of a State for details of a locality, and have failed to get the information I desired. 

 This has seldom occurred, and, on my return, I have had the pleasure of furnishing 

 information to the Bureau for the use of future travellers. In my early days I used to 

 destroy my note-books by cutting them up for publication. I have long since 

 abandoned this plan, as 1 find my notes, just as I wrote them down, always have a 

 special value to me. 



In 1909 1 spent four months travelling widely in Western Australia, mainly to 

 make the present work more complete. I provided myself with a large number of stiff 

 cartridge papers, carefully cut to the size of 6i- by 5 inches. These fitted in my coat 

 pocket, and the rigidity of the paper prevented creasing. Inter alia, I had a sheet 

 for every species of Eucalyptus recorded for the State, including dubious records. 

 Every locality was written out, together with a note of each matter to be inquired 

 into under the species. It might be that the juvenile foliage, the fruit, the size of the 

 tree, its habit, were uncertain or unknown. Another set of cards was used for localities 



