THE GEELONG NATURALIST. «qs 
and such is the fertility of the soil that the common Bracken with 
which you are all acquainted reaches the height of from six to eight 
feet, and forms in some places, thickets of such denseness, that it is 
with difficulty that a man can pass through them. Beneath these 
ferns again delicate orchids, mosses and tender ferns clothe the 
ground, whilst in the damper places beautiful little patches of sun- 
dew and fairy toadstools flourish unobserved by the casual passer. 
Little cares the wandering swagman for the tiny types of beauty 
that at each step he crushes beneath his iron-studded boots. 
Although the Eucalypti are so familiar to us all still the gum is 
such a peculiar tree that it well deserves a small space in this essay. 
The best known species are what are commonly termed the 
Blue, Red, and White Gums. The first beiag named blue on 
account of the bluish tint of the leaves, especially of the young 
trees, whilst the last two are named red and white because their 
wood is of those colours. 
The Blue Gum, of late years, has been planted in many 
countries, because the smell of the leaves is so healthy, and acts as 
a disinfectant in all low-lying ill-drained places where fevers are apt 
to lurk. ‘The Americans have seen its value, and now it may be 
seen flourishing in many parts of the United States, especially in 
the neighbourhood of their hospitals. [In Italy their value is still 
more apparent.—-Ep.] ; 
All gums are evergreens, and in place of shedding their leaves 
shed their bark. In some species the act of shedding takes place 
principally in certain months, whilst in others it goes steadily on 
throughout the whole year, irrespective of season. The cleaner the 
bark comes off the healthier the tree. For if we go among any of 
our mountain forests we find that there the trunks are straighter 
and cleaner than in the stunted woods of the plains, where often 
we find the bark of several years still clinging to thetrunk, andtwisted 
and gnarled into all manner of fantastic shapes and patterns. 
The first thing that a stranger notices in our forests is the lack 
of shade, which is to be accounted for by the position of the leaves 
and not by their scarcity as many suppose, for instead of hanging 
horizontally as the leaves of most trees do, they hang vertically, 
thus turning their edge to the sky, and so allow the rays of the sun 
to filter through and fall on the ground below. 
The wood of almost all gums is intensely hard and heavy, and 
can be used only for rough work. It makes splendid fences and. 
railway sleepers, and is much used in building, but for finer work, 
such as the manufacture of furniture it is almost useless. Fortu- 
nately, however, we have another species of tree in our forests, 
which, if not plentiful, is at least common, and which can be worked as 
easily as the best grained cedar. I refer to the Blackwood, that 
dark-leaved, graceful tree of our gullies and well-watered lowlands. 
The leaves of our Gippsland gums are, as a rule, larger than those of 
the trees onthe inland and less rainy slopes of theranges, forthe moister | 
the atmosphere the greater evaporating surface is exposed. Some 
leaves measure as much as from twelve to fourteen inches in length. 
