242 



Annals of Horticidture. 



ij% feet in girth, a yard above the surface of the ground. 

 When the stump of a cut blue-gum is left, it sends up sprouts, 

 and one of these will form a tree of the size of the one cut in 

 a year or two less than the original seedling required to reach 

 that size. 



I think that the wood of the blue-gum, especially of older 

 trees, is good for the purposes to which white pine is applied. 

 The trees grow straight, and are frequently without a limb, 

 when 10 or 12 years old, to the height of 40, 50 and 60 feet. 

 For timbers for the roof of a house, or where it is not exposed 

 to dampness, it is unexceptionable. 



The red-gum {Eucalyptus obliqua) forms a smaller tree, but 

 the wood is preferred to that of the blue-gum for timber. Less 

 of it is grown than of the blue-gum. 



The wattle {Acacia melanoxylori) also grows rapidly, and to 

 the height of 75 or 80 feet, and in some places to 100 feet, and 

 to 4 feet girth, as straight as an arrow. The wood was ex- 

 pected to be good for making furniture ; it was said to be used 

 for that purpose in Australia, whence it came. But here it is 

 used only for fuel and for posts, etc. 



The ' ' acacia ' ' {Acacia decurrens) grows any way but straight. 

 It is hard to find a stick that is straight for 15 feet in length. 

 The wood is excellent — heavy, tough, durable, and does not 

 split when seasoning. 



These two acacias spread rapidly by shoots from the roots 

 and by seeds. There were originally but three, so an old resi- 

 dent told me, in a grove of them that now covers more than 

 10 acres. The whole grove is the progeny of those three 

 trees. The shoots from the roots of Acacia decurrens come 

 up as thickly as those of hazel in a hazel patch in Illinois. 



We need to grow the jarra or yarrah {Eucalyptus rostrata), and 

 one man says that he has young plants of it growing. The 

 Australians are said to value it the most highly of their woods, 

 because when used for docks the teredo does not bore into it. 



The fruit trees of the temperate zone usually do well on the 

 Palanis. The apples and pears that have been introduced 

 are in good bearing. I brought many kinds of American 

 fruit trees here last year, and they are promising. There is a 

 large hard pear called the cooking-pear, with a fruit that often 

 weighs two pounds. It furnishes admirable stocks for other 

 pears, grows rapidly from cuttings, and has become very 



