78 EUCALYPTS CULTIVATED IN THE UNITED STATES. 
of situations. Owing to the great value of the tree from so many 
standpoints, no mistake will be made in setting it wherever it will 
thrive. It may be planted with profit as a forest cover in ravines, on 
hillsides, on plains, and in quite dry desert situations. Such planta- 
tions will within a decade begin to be sources of posts, fuel, railway 
ties, telegraph poles, and bridge timbers, and will eventually produce 
timber suitable for other important uses. If such plantings were 
made along railway tracks, ties for keeping them in repair would be 
available within a decade, and later the product would be sufficient for 
extensions of the road into new sections. Timbers for repairing rail- 
way bridges and building new ones, as well as for telegraph poles, 
could also be thus supplied within easy reach of the points where they 
would be needed. 
Eucalyptus rudis. 
Characteristics.—The trees of this species are commonly of medium 
size, the usual height being 50 to 75 feet. Near Fresno, Cal., a grove 
fifteen years of age contains trees 70 to 80 feet high and 18 to 24 inches 
in diameter. (Pls. XLII, XLII.) The trees differ in habit, most 
being erect and stately, while occasionally others have drooping stems 
and branches. The young trees are vigorous and rapid growers, 
attaining in America half the maximum height reported for them 
from Australia in four or five years. The grayish bark of the trunk is 
usually rough and persistent, but sometimes flakes off, leaving the 
trunk smooth. The leaves of the young trees are oblong, or sometimes 
roundish, often with a deep red or bronze hue. (See Pls. LX XXIV, 4; 
LXX XIX, a.) As the tree grows older the new leaves are longer 
and thinnish, finally being lance-shaped or curved. (See Pls. LXXY, 
LXXVI.) The flowers are about medium size, in clusters of 3 to 8, 
on rather slender stalks. The covering of the flower buds is conical. 
The seed cases are cup-shaped, with prominent protruding valves. 
Climatic requirements.—If supplied with sufficient water the tree 
will thrive in quite a variety of climates. In Australia it grows 
naturally along or near streams. In the Southwest it thrives near the 
coast, on dry mesas, and in the hot valleys of the interior. At Phoenix, 
Ariz., one tree has attained a height of 30 feet and a diameter of 6 
inches in three years, being unaffected by either the heat of summer 
or the cold of winter. In the Southwest the tree has proven to be 
remarkably hardy to heat and cold, enduring without injury minimum 
temperatures of 15° to 18° F. and maximum temperatures of 110° to 
iT oleae ile 
Uses.—Few reports on the character of the timber and its uses in 
Australia are available, and the tree has not been grown extensively 
enough in America to obtain data on the subject here. In regions 
