Issued January 10, 1907. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE— Circular 59. 



GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. 



FOKEST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



ETJCALYPTS. 



Several species of eucalypts are suitable for planting in the 

 warmer parts of the United States, but the qualities of the most 

 important are so much the same that only their differences need be 

 referred to. Blue gum is the most extensively planted, and may 

 therefore represent the type. 



BLUE GUM (Eucalyptus globulus). 

 FORM AND SIZE. 



The blue gum is an evergreen tree, with smooth, elongated leaves 

 of leathery texture and usually sickle-shaped. Under favorable con- 

 ditions it grows very rapidly and may attain a height of 150 feet and 

 a diameter of from 3 to 5 feet in thirty years. The form is always 

 slender, though, like most other trees, its crown spreads moderately 

 when given plenty of room. In close stands the stems rapidly clear 

 themselves of branches to a considerable height, but they are rarely 

 straight. 



RANGE. 



The blue gum is not native to the United States, but was intro- 

 duced from Australia. It has been widely planted in central and 

 southern California, and to some extent in New Mexico and Arizona. 

 Its range is limited by the fact that the young trees can not withstand 

 a lower temperature than 25° F., and it is useless to plant the trees 

 where greater cold occurs. The directions here given are therefore 

 applicable only to limited regions. In California the trees are con- 

 fined mainly to the citrus fruit belts, although in places the planting 

 range has been successfully extended beyond these limits. 



SILVICAL QUALITIES. 



Blue gum can adapt itself to many kinds of soil, even that con- 

 taining considerable alkali, but it is entirely dependent upon a plen- 

 tiful supply of moisture about its roots. Without that, it grows 

 slowly and does not sprout readily. The soil best suited to it is a 

 deep, sandy loam, with ground water within 10 or 15 feet of the sur- 



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