16 THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July. 1, 1899. 
ber reading the following passage : " Eucalyptus 
Globulus. — I quite agree with ' J. H. D.' in his 
remarks as to the rarity or difficulty of growing this 
plant ; here, we have plants 16 or 18 feet high that 
have withstood five winters without the slightest, 
protection, &c. In my opinion the principal cause 
of failure to grow is planting them too soon, (fee." 
The writer, who is evidently alive to the difficulty 
that surrounds the whole matter, is full of hope 
that it may be somehow overcome. I am sure, I 
do not wish to daunt him in any degree, but with 
regard to E. Qobulus I am persuaded that it has 
not a constitution which is sufficiently hardy for 
England. It is a great favourite wherever it get 
on well because it makes a great show so quickly, 
and my friend the Trappist monk calls it Al, because 
it gives him no trouble at all ; but that is a different 
thing from the way in which Cavaliere Palice 
speaks about the same matter. He does not say that 
Eucalyptus Globulus can be trusted in all places 
and positions, but he maintains exactly the reverse, 
and he puts E. resinifera at the head of Ihe whole 
of them, because it is more reliable than the rest. 
And this, so far E. Globulus is concerned, I 
have seen over and over again in the Isle of Wight. 
It goes on well, say, for seven or eight years or 
more, and then a more than usually hard frost 
comes, and ever tree is destroyed. 
I remember twenty Lor twenty-five years ago re- 
ceiving a letter from a friend who had a line place 
at Westridge, near Kyde, and his asking me to go 
to him at once. He certainly was not addicted to 
botany or to the cultivation of trees and plants at 
all, but, somehow, E. Globulus had found its way 
into his garden, and had attained to a great size ; 
he was very proud of his tree, but he could not 
make out the buds, ani one spring very unexfeatedly, 
and very suddenly, so far as the owner was con- 
cerned, it broke out into blossom, and was a pretty 
sight to see. I really do not know what this 
gentleman imagined had taken place. The kaob- 
like buds he had esteemed to be seed-vessels, so 
far as he had thought about them at all, and the 
difficulty m his mind was, what then had succeeded 
them ? and he was very slow to bolieve that his 
Eucalyptus was blossoming. But that tree gave 
rise to many false hopes in the Isle of Wight. If 
E. Globulus could behave like this, and grow so 
tall, and blossom so luxuriantly, what more could be 
required ? It would certainly take k) the Isle of 
Wight, and the Isle ©f Wight might have a new 
possession of great value about which no doubt need 
be entertained. But what really took place? E. 
Globulus was planted in fairly large quantity in 
and about Ryde, and everything went on swimmingly 
for a series of years. Near Trinity Church in Ryde 
there were some very large specimens indeed, there 
were one or two in St. Jehn's Park, the same (I 
think) in the grounds of Isle of Wight College, 
certainly one or two in my own garden, and nobody 
dreamt of any ill coming to them ; all boded so 
well. But the frost of 1881 made short work of the 
hole lot, and for sometime there was not a Eucalyptus 
in the place that was worth speaking of. Now they 
are coming np again in some plantations and gar- 
dens, and they look very promising, but the promise 
will only last till the mercury in the thermometer 
goes below a certain point, and the whole thing will 
be over. This sort of occurrence is by no means 
peculiar to the neighbourhood where I live. I asked 
a lady who is a visitor to Rome this winter, and 
who lives at Falmouth, how it fared with her about 
this matter, and her answer wag, they get on well 
for live or six years, and then a hard forest come 
and every Eucalyptus is killed. I have even heard 
of a fine tree at Bournemouth, which stood the 
climate there for seventeen years, and at last was 
cut off. They may do permanently in other places 
about which I know nothing at all, but ths Scilly 
Igles give the only exception I can think of to a 
universal rule. [Fota, Mr. Smith-Barry's place near 
Cork.— Ei).l. I may, however, say, that I know 
nothing about th« west coast of Scotland, aud how 
^hej {are there. 
The question, therefore, about them is this. Is any one 
species so much more hardy and so much more slow-grow- 
ing than the others as to afford solid ground for hope ? 
I remember myself hearing some time ago of 
two names of Eucalypti. I think they were E. 
Gunni, B. coccifera and another, and these were said 
to promise quite well for the future in point of 
hardiness, but I do not know how the promise was 
fulfilled — it can do no harm if a third on« be added 
to the list — it may prove a failure, like so many 
others; but E. resinifera has a very good character 
here, which should not be overlooked. 
I would only just add, that I have brought a good 
supply of seed of E. resinifera from the Tranpist 
Monastery, and I shall not myself want a tithe of 
it. I will readily send some of it to any one who 
applies for it to me on my return home to St. John's 
Ryde, which will be, so far as I can tell at present 
in the month of April next. H. Eu-hank (lieu.) 
Rome, Christinas Eve, 1^%?,. [E. resinifera was figured 
in our columns, 'with a descriptive article from the 
late Dr. George Bennett. See Gardeners' Chronicle, 
August ;i, 1872, p. 104. E. coccifera, at powderham 
Castle, Devon, has often been figured in our columns. 
See February 7, 1891. We should be pleased to 
hear the present height of that specimen. The tree a 
K.ew which gets hurt by frost is E. Gunni. E. ur- 
nigera is the tree grown at Whittingham, East 
Lothian. See Gardeners' Chronicle, Jane 30, 1888. 
We may also refer to an article on February 7, 1891 
as containing a summary of our knowledge of these 
plants, as grown in the open air in this country, 
Ed.J . — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
The Tea CAMrAiGN.— The Madras Mail has 
some pungent remarks to make in criticism of 
a local paper thus : — India to act for herself. 
Now, if Ceylon has had less advantage than India 
out of cc-opera!ioB up to the present time, why 
should she wish to continue a system that is unfavour- 
able to herself ; if more, then why should India take 
the bait that is put before her ? As for the "futility" 
of South India acting independently, we can only 
say that, in our opinion, a scheme might easily be 
drawn up that would be within South India's means, 
and that would give a better return in proportion to 
the money laid out than the past efforts of either 
the Planters' Association of Ceylon or the Indian 
Tea Association have done. This is a bold assertion, 
perhaps, but, at least, the above efforts have done 
little for this part of India. The idea that Ceylon 
aad Indian teas can be grouped together, and offered 
as if they constituted but one series of qualities, 
appears to us to be fallacious. There is as wide 
variety between some Ceylons and other Indians as 
between any Ceylon or Indian and any China teas. 
South Indian teas are, generally speaking, totally 
distinct from Assams or Darjeelings, at any rate 
from the higher grades. Such South Indian teas, 
as have been offered in the London market lately 
have been described as " useful sorts." That is what is 
wanted all the world over, and if South India makes 
it known in other markets than London that she 
has useful sorts to offer, she will reap the benefit of 
increased competition among buyers. Whatever our 
Colombo contemporary may say, we see no reason 
why India should make terms with Ceylon in respect 
to tea compaigns in America or elsewhere ; and we 
specially deprecate the idea of South India placing 
herself in the position of the little streetboy, who 
steals a free ride at the back of a passing cab. She 
should push her on wares, not hang on to Ceylon 
or India's coat-tails. — As for the " Times of Ceylon " 
remark about " political feeling in Russia against 
India, " our contemporary has so completely misunder- 
stood our reference to political considerations as to try 
to put the boot on the wrong foot ! If our contemporary 
will but consider that there is no Consular re- 
presentative of Russia in India, and if he will 
try to ascertain or to guess the reason, he may 
possibly comprehend our statement that " political 
reasons obstruct progress " in regard to a direct 
line of steamers from Calcutta to Odessa, in rivalry 
with that which carries cargg iifjm Colombo tQ Odesg% 
