24 EUCALYPTS IX FLORIDA. 



close to the surface. It may be recommended for planting in places 

 where there is an abundance of moisture in the soil and in warm, 

 swampy localities. In can be grown very near the sea in marshy 

 soil, and even on slightly brackish tracts, since the salt does not seem 

 to be detrimental: but here it is subjected to windbreakage during 

 heavy storms. It is very free from insect damage. 



EUCALYPTUS ROSTRATA SCHLECHT (RED GUM) . 



The red gum is found at more places and in larger numbers than 

 any other species in Florida ; from Eustis, in the central part of the 

 State, south along the east coast to Cocoanut Grove, and on the west 

 coast from Estero up as far north as Sutherland. The largest euca- 

 lyptus tree in the State is a red gum. It is growing near Fruit- 

 ville, and is now 24 years old and measures 80 feet in height and 49 

 inches in diameter breast-high. 



The only places where this species suffered from frost were. Eustis 

 and Tavares. At both places the injury occurred when the trees were 

 1 or 2 years old. At Tavares the seedling had been frozen back by 

 a temperature of 19° immediately following a warm spell in 1895, 

 but when cut to the ground it at once sprouted vigorously, and is now 

 TO feet high and 21.1 inches in diameter breast-high. At Eustis this 

 tree was killed back when 1 year old by a somewhat lower tempera- 

 ture. This would indicate that trees of this species after they have 

 passed the juvenile stage are fairly resistant to temperatiu-e as low 

 as 18° or 19° F. 



Trees at Punta Gorda have withstood, without any injury, tem- 

 peratures of 22° and made an average growth of a little over 4.5 feet 

 in height and 1.5 inches in diameter a year. They have withstood 

 also the gales to which they are exposed, some of them being planted 

 within 100 yards of the seacoast. (See PI. V.) 



The trees were growing on a variety of soils — on poor sand, with 

 hardpan or rock close to the surface, on limestone, and in one case 

 at Estero on low ground subject to inundation. Since this species 

 prefers low, humid situations, with a stiff but not impermeable soil. 

 and grows well when inundated periodically, even where the water 

 is somewhat brackish, the soils in which it was found growing in 

 Florida were the least suitable to it. The growth which it made on 

 those soils indicates, however, as experiments in France and Algeria 

 also have shown, that it can grow well in dry situations. The frost 

 hardiness of this species, its adaptability to moist soils, and the 

 excellent quality of its wood, make it particularly worth considering 

 for planting on the large stretches of low-lying wet lands of Florida. 



It has now been sufficiently tried in Florida to justify planting it 

 in localities where the temperature does not fall, for any long period, 



