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JOHN - CRAIG

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AGRICULTURE

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Eucalyptus Globulus.

POREST (ULTURE

Hucalyptus ‘Trees.

BY

BUuEWOOD COOPER. edibrr-

The only Complete and Reliable Work on the Eucalypti Published in the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO: QGubery & Company, Steam Book and Ornamental Job Printers, No, 414 Market Street, below Sansome,

1876. i

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION da,jarteoee deve eee sees 4540545 4404s ELE eee Forzst Cutrurn anp AUSTRALIAN GuM-TREES: A Lecturé (third of a series), delivered by Ellwood Cooper, Nov. 26, 1875, before the Santa Barbara College Association.. DEscRIPTIONS OF THIRTY-TWO VARIETIES OF EUCALYPTUS- TREES: Copied from the Pamphlets of Baron Ferd. von Mucllers sc +e: 2544 2424 a nx See et ciawe eae ete He nae DEscriprion or TWENTY VARIETIES: Copied from the Plant Catalogue of Anderson, Hall & Co., Sydney Forrest Cutturg mm rrs Retations to InpustriaAL Pur- surrs: By Baron Ferd. von Mueller.................. APPLICATION oF PHYTOLOGY To THE INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES oF Lirz: By Baron Ferd. von Mueller............... AUSTRALIAN VecxeTaTion: By Baron Ferd. von Mueller.... Santa BARBARA COLLEGE CATALOGUE. ........00eceeeeeee

31

167

205

INTRODUCTION.

In presenting to the public a printed copy of my ‘¢ Lecture on Forest Planting and Australian Gum- Trees,’’ delivered before the Santa Barbara College Association, for the benefit of the library, it is neces- sary to preface the lecture by the statement that it appears in print in consequence of repeated demands for the publication from several localities in the south- ern part of California. Forest protection, the want of trees, in almost every part of the State, is mani- fest to all owners of land, who are eager to begin the planting ; the only question being—What shall we plant? The rapidity of growth of the Blue Gum, and the facility with which it can be propagated,

‘is-a feature of great importance; but information is wanted. Much that has been written on the subject is mere speculative theories, often contradictory, and too uncertain to merit the confidence necessary to base such an important industry. This industry not only necessitates that the protection should be cheap- ly and quickly obtained, but that the tree should have a value for mechanical or other purposes. This value gives confidence to the planter, without which it can not be expected the work will goon. The inquiry comes, What is the value of the tree? This is the

2

6 * INDRODUCTION.

vital question to the man who invests money, time, or labor in the enterprise, and the question I have aimed to answer.

In treating of forest-planting I have, to some extent, done nothing more than give the opinions of great writers on the subject, and in their own language.

The sources of original ideas in any subject are few. I have, therefore, thought it wiser to copy than give anything of my own, less impressive.

In a short essay the subject could not be handled with anything like completeness, and in gathering together fragments from the writings of Franklin B. Hough, the Hon. Geo. P. Marsh, Prof. Lovoe, and others, I have selected that which I thought most valuable, having in view but the one. purpose — to present something to the public that would impress them with the importance of this industry.

In the investigation I learned, through my corre- spondence with the Hon. Thos. Adamson, Jr., Unit- ed States Consul - general at Melbourne, that Baron Ferd. von Mueller, of Australia, had published sev- eral pamphlets on the ‘‘ Hucalyptus-trees, and the Im-- portance of Forest Culture,” but that a copy could not be obtained. Mr. Adamson, however, wrote that the Baron would send the copies in his possession provid- ed I would have them published at my own risk, in a connected form. I have deemed the subject of so great and vital importance that I present to the pub. lic, in this book, a part of the writings of this valua- ble author:

First. —“ Descriptions of Thirty-two Varieties of the Hucalypti Family.” :

INTRODUCTION. 7

Second. —‘« Forest Culture in its Relations to Indus- trial Pursuits.”

Third.— Application of Phytology to the Indus- trial Purposes of Life.”

. Fourth.—“ Australian Vegetation.”

I have in addition to the above the following, which will soon appear in a separate volume :

First.—‘‘The Trees of Australia, Phytologically Named and Arranged, with Indications of their Ter- ritorial Distribution.” :

Second.—‘‘The Principal Timber-trees Readily Eligible for Victorian Industrial Culture, with Indi- cations of their Native Countries, and some of their Technologic Uses.”

Third.—‘* Select Plants (exclusive of timber-trees) Readily Eligible for Victorian Industrial Culture, with Indications of their Native Countries and Some of their Uses.”

Fourth, — Additions to ‘Select Plants.’ ”’

Fifth. —“ Second Supplement tothe ‘Select Plants.”

Sixth.—‘ The objects of a Botanic Garden in Rela- tion to Industries.”

ELLWOOD COOPER.

FOREST CULTURE

Nustalian Gum Trees: A LECTURE

(Third of a Series)

Delivered by ELILWOOD COOPER,

NoveEMBER 26TH, 1875, BEFORE THE SANTA BaRPARA COLLEGE ASSOCIATION,

«¢ The presence of stately ruins in solitary deserts is conclusive proof that great climatic changes have taken place within the period of human history, in many eastern countries, once highly cultivated and densely peopled, but now arid wastes,

«“‘ Although the records of geology teach that great vicissitudes of climate, from the torrid and humid conditions of the coal period to those of extreme cold which produced the glaciers of the drift, may have in turn occurred in the same region, we have no reason to believe that any material changes have been brought about, by astronomical or other natural causes, within the historic period. We cannot account for the changes that have occurred since these sunburnt and sterile plains, where these traces of man’s first civilization are found, were clothed with a luxuriant vegetation, except by ascribing them to the improvident acts of

10 FOREST CULTURE AND

man in destroying the trees and plants which once clothed the surface and sheltered it from the sun and the winds. As this shelter was removed the desert approached, gaining new power as its area increased, until it crept over vast regions once populous and fer- tile, and left only the ruins of former magnificence.”

‘¢ There are parts of Asia Minor, of Northern Africa, of Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, where the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as com- plete as that of the moon. And though, within the brief space of time men call the ‘ historical period,’ they are known to have been covered with luxuriant woods, verdant pastures, and fertile meadows, they are now too far deteriorated to bereclaimable by man. Nor can they becomeagain fitted for human use except through great geological changes, or other mysterious influences or agencies of which we have no present knowledge, and over which we have no prospective control. The earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblestinhabitants, and another era of equal human crime and human improvidence, and of like duration with that through which traces of that crime and im- providence extend, would reduce it to sucha condition of impoverished productiveness, of shattered surface, of climatic excess, as to threaten the depravation, barbarism, and ‘perhaps even extinction of the spe- cies.”

‘¢ In European countries, especially in Itaby, Germany, Austria, and France, where the injuries resulting from the cutting off of timber have long since been realized, the attention of governments has been turned to this subject by the necessities of the case, and con-

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 11

servative measures have, in many instances, been successfully applied, so that a supply of timber has been obtained, by cultivation, and other benefits re- sulting from this measure have been realized.”

In these countries there are over two dozen schools of forestry, where special instruction is imparted to the youth who are to take the future care of the pub- lic forests and private plantations.

The attention of our Government was called to the importance of reserving timber for our navy, and an Act was passed March 1, 1817, making reservations of public lands for this purpose. This Act, however, proved ineffectual, and has along time since been dis- regarded, and there is nothing at the present time to prevent the complete destruction of every wooded spot in the country.

‘The preservation of forests is one of the first inter- ests of society, and consequently one of the first du- ties of government. All the wants of life are closely related to their preservation; agriculture, architect- ure, and almost all the industries seek therein their aliment and resources, which nothing could replace.

“* Necessary as are the forests to the individual, they are not less so to the state. It is from thence that commerce finds the means of transportation and ex- change, and that governments claim the elements of their protection, their safety, and even their glory.

‘¢Tt is not alone from the wealth which they offer by their working, under wise regulation, that we may judge of their utility. Their existence is of itself of incalculable benefit to the countries that possess them, as well in the protection and feeding of the springs and rivers as in their prevention against the washing

12 FOREST CULTURE AND

away of the soil upon mountains, and in the beneficial and healthful influence which they exert upon the atmosphere.

‘¢Large forests deaden and break the force of nee winds that beat out the seeds and injure the growth of plants; they form reservoirs of moisture; they shelter the soil of the fields, and upon hill-sides, where the rain-waters, checked in their descent by the thous- and obstacles they present by their roots and the trunks of trees, have time to filter into the soil and only find their way by slow degrees to the rivers. They regu- late, in a certain degree, the flow of the waters and the hygrometrical condition of the atmosphere, and their destruction accordingly increases the duration of droughts and gives rise to the injuries of inunda- tions, which denude the face of the mountains.

‘“¢The destruction of forests has often become to the country where this has happened a real calamity and a speedy cause of approaching decline and ruin. Their injury and reduction below the degree of pres- ent or future wants is among the misfortunes which we should provide against, and one of those errors which nothing can excuse, and which nothing but centuries of perseverance and privation can repair.

‘But there is another and more cheering erain this history. This is when civilization has advanced, and man, under the safeguard of laws, sets about restoring the desolated forest. The cultivation of wood then becomes an art founded upon principles, and pursued for the gratification of taste, or for purposes of utility. Like every one who labors from choice, the planter experiences gratification in his pursuit. The little tree which he places in the ground quickly becomes

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 138

a part of the landscape around ; and thus the taste is gratified almost as soon asthe work is done. In afew years more his woods yield shelter from the winds, and thus increase the value of the lands around, while it is rarely beyond the expectations of human life to look for a direct profit from the wood as it advances to maturity. To expend capital on planting, indeed, is merely to lay out a fund to increase at interest. Planting, then, may be readily rendered the means, on the part of a landed proprietor, of setting asidea fund for any specific purpose—as for a provision for a family ; and no man is deemed peculiarly disinterest- ed who merely obeys a dictate of reason and humanity and provides for hisdescendants. The planter, then, has his motives of rational interest to justify him in the opinion of those who look only to gain. He lays out his capital with a view to a profitable return. He improves the value of his estate, while, in the prac- tice of his art, he finds the materials of an innocent recreation. It may be questioned whether, in the whole range of rural occupations, one more interesting pursuit presents itself than the superintendence of a growing wood, presenting to the eye at every season new objects of interest and solicitude. Where is the planter who would wish the workmanship of his hands undone, and who does not look with an honest pride on the beautiful creation which, with a generous spirit, he has raised up around him ?”’

These considerations present a problem not difficult of solution—possibly difficult to educate land-owners of their truthfulness.

We must make the people familiar with the facts and the necessities of the case. It must come to be

*2

14 FOREST CULTURE AND

understood that a tree ora forest planted is an invest- ment of capital, increasing annually in value as it grows, like money at interest, and worth at any time what it has cost, including the expense of planting and the interest which this money would have earned at the given date. The great masses of our rural population and land-owners should be inspired with correct ideas as to the importance of planting and preserving trees, and taught the profits that may be de- rived from planting waste spots with timber, where nothing else would grow to advantage. They should learn the increased value of farms which have the roadsides lined with avenues of trees, and should un- derstand the worth of the shelter which belts of tim- ber afford to fields, and the general increase of wealth and beauty which the country would realize from the united and well-directed efforts of the owners of land in thus enriching and beautifying their estates.

The demand for lumber increases in the United States at the rate of twenty-five per cent. per annum. The decrease of forests is at the rate of 7,000,000 acres annually. Few people have any idea ofthe immense value of the wood which is used for purposes gen- erally considered unimportant. The fences of the United States are now valued at $1,800,000,000, and it costs, annually, $98,000,000 to keep them in repair. By far the greatest proportion of these are wood. The railroads of the United States use 150,000,000 of ties annually.

There are establishments manufacturing articles of wood alone, numbering 118,684, employing 7,440,000 persons, and using wood valued at $554,000,000 an- nually.

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 15

A seventy-four gun ship swallows up no less than 150,000 cubic feet, requiring 2,000 large, well-grown timber trees. Supposing these trees should stand thirty-three feet apart, it would require the timber of fifty acres to build one such ship.

According to a statistical table published by our Government in 1874, there was in the New England, Middle, and Western States an average of thirty-three per cent. of wooded land. ‘‘ In France and Germany it has been estimated that at least one fifth of the land should be planted with forest trees in order to main- tain the proper hygrometric and electric equilibrium for successful farming.”? ‘¢ Mirabeau estimated that thereshould be retained inFrance thirty-two per cent. of land in wood.’ In the State of Texas, it is represent- ed that there isan area four times that of the State of Pennsylvania, without a tree or a shrub. In Califor- nia there is only 4), per cent. It is to this State I eall your attention, and to this people my lecture is directed. We have, perhaps, the most healthful, most equable, the best climate on this globe, and the only objections that can be urged are the prevailing high wind, and an uncertain, as well as an insuffi- cient, quantity of rain-fall. Moderate the winds, in- crease the rain, and we have perfection. This result is so easily and so quickly to be obtained that it ought to have the attention and serious consideration of every land-owner in the State. How is this to be done? How are we to obtain this result? By planting for- est trees. I would recommend belts from 100 to 150 feet in width, each quarter of a mile, planted at right angles with the prevailing direction of the winds, and to line all the highways, parallel with or to the

16 FOREST CULTURE AND

general currents, with belts of two or three rows, closely planted. This planting would occupy about one eighth of the land. Then again, it would be par- ticularly desirable to plant allthe banks of gulches, four or five rows on either side, in order to prevent further washing ; also, allsteep side-hills inconvenient to cultivate, or any waste lands that are non-produc- ing. Trees will grow in places where nothing else can be cultivated. A soil too coarse and meager for the cereals may be marvelously productive in forest growth. Ravines and slopes too steep for any other useful product are the favorite seats of timber. Tak- ing belts of land situated similarly to that part of Santa Barbara county lying between Point Conception, Rin- con Point, the Santa Inez Mountains, and the ocean, if planted as above, fully one fourth would be occupied by trees. It is known and proved that the three fourths of the surface will produce more, if protected by trees planted on the other fourth, than the whole would without the trees, and without the protection. Consequently the possessor loses nothing in the pro- ductiveness of his farm, but, on the contrary, he in- creases the certainty of hiscrops, decreases one fourth his labor, beautifies his home, improves the climate, doubles the value of his land, receives inspiration from this work of his own hands, elevates his own condition, and adds to the refinement of himself, his family, and all his surroundings.

By reason of the ‘mildness of the climate and the discovery of the Zucalyptus, or what is known as Aus- tralian Gum-tree, we can, in our generation, create forests of these trees, and bring about all these condi- tions to be enjoyed by ourselves. No other country

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 17

is so susceptible ; to no other country can we look for equal results,

* The Hucalyptus globulus (known as the Blue Gum, and so generally admired in California) is a native of Tasmania. It has received the name Eucalyptus on account of the formation of the seed-pods. The name is from two Greek words, signifying ‘<I conceal well,’’ the cup for a long time concealing the stamens. The name globulus was taken from the resemblance to a but- ton. The discovery was made by a French botanist by the name of Labillardiere. This gentleman was a member of a French expedition, fitted out in 1791, and, quoting from his journal: ‘(12th May, 1792. [The expedition was then in the port of Entrecasteaux, in the Bay of Tempests, Van Dieman’s Land.] I have not yet b2en able to procure the flowers of a new spe- cies of Eucalyptus, remarkable for its fruit, which resembles a coat-button. This tree, which is one of the tallest in nature, since it measures upward of one hundred and sixty feet, only blooms toward its upper extremity. The wood is suited to naval con- struction, and is durable, but neither so light nor so elastic as pine. This beautiful tree, of the myrtle family, is covered with a smooth hark ; the branches bend a little as they rise, and are garnished at the extremities with alternate leaves, slightly curved, and about seven inches in length and nearly two in width. The flowers are solitary, and grow out of the axils of the leaves. The bark, leaves, and fruit are aromatic, and might be employed for economical uses, in place of those which the Moluccas have hitherto exclusively furnished us.”’ ‘In the history of the

* Copied from the translation from the French of Prof. J, E. Planchon,

18 FOREST CULTURE AND

future naturalization of the Hucalyptus Mueller is the savant who justly calculated the future of the tree, traced it in its itineracy, and predicted its destiny. Ramel is the enthusiastic amateur who has thrown body and mind into the mission of propagating it. Both have faith; but one is a prophet, the other an apostle, and, in the noble confraternity of services, public gratitude will not separate the names that are bound together by friendship.’”? ‘The Hucalyptus - globulus, known as the Blue Gum, was introduced into Algeria in 1854, while its name and properties were unknown. It isnow being planted by hundreds of thousands, in groves, in avenues, in groups, in iso- lated stalks, in every section of three provinces.”” A colonist and ardent planter, M. Trottier, regarded this tree as possessing a forest substance capable one day of enriching the colony, and he took for the motto of one of his writings the following: ‘‘The wood of the Eucalyptus will be the great product of Algeria.’’ Carrying his confidence still further, he saw the des- ert retreating before this colonized tree, and, specu- lating upon the incontestible fact that the forest created humidity and changed the hygrometrical régime of a country, and remembering, besides, the subterrane- ous sheets of water beneath the arid surface of this region, he boldly named another pamphlet ‘The Wooded Desert and Colonies,” thus conceiving the idea that the great SAHARA DESERT could be reclaimed by planting this tree. He estimated the profits from planting the Zucalyptus in the colonies of Algeria to be from one thousand stalks, in five years, to yield a gross revenue of $240, and $10,650 in twenty-six years. He based the estimate on the annual growth,

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 19

from actual measurement, of four and one half inches in circumference yearly. At Hamma and at Cannes, near Algiers, the growth in height of young trees averages nineteen inches per month. A stalk one year old, planted in May, attained the height of nineteen feet the following December; the year after it grew nineteen feet; the year after it grew nine- teen feet; the latter part of the third year this impulse diminished, but, at the end of fifteen years, the tree was over seventy feet in height.

At «‘Ellwood,’’ my home, twelve miles west of Santa Barbara, I have growing about fifty thousand trees, The oldest were transplanted in February, three years ago. These trees, however, have not done so well as those planted one year later, for the reason that the roots were too much confined —the transplanting delayed too long. The best growth obtained, under the most favorable circumstances, is a tree growing near my house, three years and one or two months from the seed. Transplanted two years and ten months, is nine and one half inches in diameter and forty-two feet six inches high. There is another tree near by, same age, transplanted at the same time, not so large in the trunk, but has attained the height of forty-five feet six inches, equal to forty-seven hun- dredths of an inch per day, fourteen and seven nine- teenths inches per month, and, in order to attain a height of four hundred feet, would have to continue on growing at this rate for twenty-eight years. Nine and one half inches in diameter for three years and two months is equal to three inches yearly, or nine and forty-three hundredths in circumference yearly. To make a tree sixteen feet jn diameter would have

20 FOREST CULTURE AND

to continue on growing in the same ratio for sixty- four years. My last planting was June 25th, The seeds were sown six months before. These trees were purposely kept back—stunted, I may say —as I desired to transplant them only after the disappear- ance of grasshoppers. From the 25th of June these trees, averaging six to eight inches in height, have now reached six feet (or a great many of them) in the short space of five months. The greatest possible results have been obtained on every part of my place. I have experimented on two steep hill-sides, so stony and rocky that plowing or preparing the ground was impossible; putting them in with a pick, without water, and after the rains were over. On one hill- side I cultivated with the hoe as best I could; on the other did nothing—the mustard, in some places, grow- ing up around the trees seven to eight feet high. The trees cultivated have done very much better than the others. Whether this kind of planting is practi- cable can only be determined at the end of the next year.

It is claimed for the Hucalyptus that it resists Sum- mer dryness, and profits by the rains of the Autumn, Winter, and Spring, wherever the mildness of the climate permits it to vegetate without interruption. T have made no other special observations with regard to the growth of this tree, excepting on Gen, Naglee’s place, in San Jose, where I found trees, ten years old, eighteen inches in diameter, and, I should think, eighty to ninety feet high. <‘#Many species of the Eucalyptus are, in their native country, truly gigantic trees. A Eucalyptus colossea has measured nearly four hundred feet in height, and a Zucalypius amygdalina

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 21

from four hundred and sixteen to four hundred and seventy-one feet. One ofthe latter species has reached the height of five hundred feet, which is twenty feet higher than the Pyramid of Cheops, the tallest struct- ure in the world. This tree would cast a shadow upon the summit of the great Pyramid. A giant Eucalyptus of Tasmania was not less than thirty feet in diameter near the soil, the height being about three hundred feet. °

Without expecting such vast proportions in gen- eral, the Eucalyptus globulus is not the less the lar- gest forest-tree in the world — excepting only the ‘« Sequoia Gigantea,’’ or Big Tree of California. <¢In its juvenile state it isa finished type of elegance. In its adult period, it is a magnificent representation of strength.’? The trunk can supply immense planks. One was sent to the London Exhibition, in 1862, measuring seventy-five feet in length, and about ten feetin width. Australia desired to send a plank one hundred and sixty-five feet long, but no ship could be found to transport it. The English Navy begins to appreciate the wood for its solidity, durability, and tenacity. The best whale-ships that furrow the South American Seas are those of Hobart Town; the keels of which are made of the Eucalyptus globulus. The wood of the Hucalyptus combines density of texture with rapidity of growth. This growth is particularly rapid during its juvenile period, but it does not cease to grow in height until it is twenty-four years old. After this age, the trunks, which are generally very straight, only increase in diameter. Compact and tenacious, the wood, owing to the presence of resinous materials, possesses a sort of incorruptibility, which

22 FOREST CULTURE AND

allows it to remain a long time in contact with salt water. It is equally durable in the ground as is the Oak, and can be employed with advantage for sleep- ers for railroads. The durability of the wood makes it valuable for the keels of vessels, for the construc- tion of bridges, piers, and viaducts,

‘‘The Eucalyptus is not only valuable as a wood, but has medicinal properties, In Valencia, Spain, it is vulgarly called the fever-tree, on account of its properties for preventing malarial fevers. There, its properties are so well known as a cure for fevers that its leaves are often plundered, and in a public garden of a great city, it is necessary to surround the fever-tree with a guard, in order to preserve it from being stripped. It has, also, disinfectant virtues, and is antiseptic for wounds—its essential oil being a stimulant, and the tannin in the leaves, acting as a tonic astringent applied exteriorly, hastens the heal- ing ofa wound. Various chemists have enumerated its uses as an infusion, decoction, powder, distilled water, tincture, extract and essence. From the most authentic testimony, the Zucalyptus appears or seems to be a very efficacious remedy against a great num- ber of intermittent fevers.

‘6* Fucalyptus globulus, Blue Gum-tree of Victoria and Tasmania. This tree is of extremely rapid growth, and attains a height of four hundred feet, furnishing a first-class wood. Ship-builders get keels of this timber one hundred and twenty feet long; besides this, they use it extensively for planking and many other parts of the ship, and it is considered to be generally superior

* Thos. Adamson, Jr., U. 8. Consul-General at Melbourne, copied at my request from the pamphlets of Baron Ferd. von Mueller, the description here given to the £. globulus, and &. rostrata,

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 23

to American Rock Elm. A test of strength has been made between some Blue Gum, English Oak, and In- dian Teak. The Blue Gum carried fourteen pounds weight more than the Oak, and seventeen and one fourth pounds more than ‘Teak upon the square inch. Blue Gum wood, besides being used for ship-building, is very’extensively used by carpenters for all kinds of out-door work ; also, for fence-rails, railway sleep- ers—lasting about nine years—for shafts and spokes of drays, and a variety of other purposes.’’

Eucalyptus rostrata, the Red Gum of Victoria, South Australia, and many river-flats in the interior of the Australian Continent. Although a native tree of this colony, it has been introduced into this list on account of its wood being of extraordinary endurance under ground, and, for this reason, so highly valued for fence-posts, piles, and railway sleepers ; for the latter purpose it will last at least a dozen years, and, if well-selected, much longer.

It is also extensively used by ship-builders* * *, It should be steamed before it is worked for planking. Next to the Jarrah, from West Australia, this is the best wood for resisting the attacks of sea-worms and whiteants. For other details of this and other native trees I refer to the report of the Victorian Exhibition of 1862 and 1867.

The tree attains a height of fully one hundred feet.

_The supply for our local wantsalready falls short, and it cannot be obtained from Tasmania, where the tree does not naturally exist.”

In my correspondance with Mr. T. W. Herkimer, who lived:ten years in Australia and Tasmania, spend. ing about half the time in each place, and variously

%

24 FOREST: CULTURE AND

engaged in mining, wood-cutting lumbering, con- structing telegraph lines, etc., etc., I have learned the following : That the general character of the country, the climate, the quantity of rain- fall— except that they may have a little more rain in Summer in Aus- tralia and Tasmania, where the Gum Trees grow—is very similar to the Redwood districts of California ; the growth being ‘more rapid and the trees larger in the coast ranges, ravines, and valleys than in any other localities—the nearer the foot of the ranges the better. The thicker they are planted, and the thick- they grow, the better, as they will shade each other. I have always noticed that all trees’ grow taller and straighter where they grow close together. <‘¢ All trees grown onan open plain, exposed to the sun and wind, will not grow tall, like they do in the forest, where they are protected and shaded. Ihave seen, in Australia and Tasmania, Blue Gums larger and taller than I have seen Redwood; many of the Gum Trees from fourteen to sixteen feet.in diamater, per- fectly sound, and, I think, three hundred feet high. The Blue Gum, if it could be grown so as to make large trees, I think, is the most useful, for it is not only good for posts and rails, but ties and piles. While I was in Tasmania theré was a test made as to the value for war purposes. It was found that a cannon-ball would pierce the planks, cutting a round hole, and passing through, without splitting the planks. The experiments were so satisfactory that the wood was pronounced as good as English Oak. “I was appointed tosuperintend the construction of atelegraph line from the river Lamar, on the north coast of Tasmania, to Hobart Town, on the south

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 25

coast. We used for poles the young trees of the Blue Gum, White Gum, Red Gun, and Stringy-bark, tak- ing only the bark off. Wecharred the butts as faras they went into the ground, and dipped in coal-tar. They were expected to last ten or twelve years. When I finished the construction of the telegraph line I was engaged in a saw-mill on theriver Mersey, The timber that we sawed was, as above mentioned, Blue, ‘White, and Red Gum and Stringy-bark; we sawed it for all purposes used in house-building, ex- cept rustic and siding. It is used in large quantities for piles, wharf, and bridge building. The timber- dealers in Melbourne, and all other ports, do not make a difference in contracting for a cargo of lumber of colonial woods. It is generally expected that it will be mixed. Wheelrights always select the Blue Gum, it being considered much better for wagon-making than most other varieties ; itis stronger and more du- rable, and quite equal to the Hickory of this country. It is used for axletrees, hubs, spokes, and all parts of the running-gear. The Blue Gum is much tougher and heavier, and will last longer than any of the oth- ers ; in fact, it will last a life-time if taken from large trees. The wood resembles the Rock Elm of the Kast- ern States. I have rafted a great deal of it; when thrown into the water green will nearly always sink to the bottom, so that it is necessary to lash the rafts alongside of boats to keep them on the surface. A pile sixty feet long, fifteen inches in diameter, will require the strength of two men to raise to the sur- face. It weighs sixty-seven pounds to the cubic foot.

‘The Stringy-bark tree has a leaf the same as the Blue Gum, and is known in the Australian Colonies as the Gum Top Stringy-bark.

26 FOREST CULTURE AND

«¢ The Stringy-bark tree has a very thick bark on the trunk, and of the same color as the bark of the Red- wood. The Blue, White, and Red Gums, after they become large trees, shed their bark, which grows in growths, the outside layers, too small for the inner, crack open, the wind gets between the growths, tears it off in strips three or four inches wide, and sometimes one hundred feet long; the debris cover- ing the ground at the trunk five or six feet in depth.

««The Iron-bark tree does not grow in Tasmania ; it is an Australian tree ; has arough bark, something like the bark of the Black Oak of Canada, The bark and the wood are very hard and heavy ; will sink in water, like a stone ; will last for years ; in fact, Ido not believe it will ever rot. The largest trees of this va- riety I have seen were not over four feet in diameter.”’

Mr. Casey of Melbourne recommends the Hucalyp- tus rostrata as being of great value, more hardy than the Blue Gum, and possessing all the sanitary proper- ties, capable of a high polish, and specially adapted for piles and for ship-timber.

The Eucalyptus globulus, or Blue Gum, is a very tender plant when young. It is an evergreen of rapid growth, and the young shoots are injured by a few degrees of frost. It is reported that trees have been destroyed by cold at New Orleans after reaching a height of fifteen feet.

I have selected from the one hundred to one hun- dred and fifty species of the Eucalypti family the fol- lowing varieties: Eucalyptus globulus, E. rostrata, E. marginata, E. syderoxylon, E. brachypoda, E. obli- qua, E. platyphilla, FE. phonicea, and E. amygdalina.*

* The description as given in the lecture is omitted in this place, as it appears more fully on pages 32 to 39,

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 27

Propagation.—My plan of germinating the seeds and transplanting to permanent sites is as follows: I have found, from repeated experiments, that it is bet- ter to germinate the seeds in boxes, a convenient size for handling, say two and one half to three feet square and sixinches deep, placing first about four inches of good sandy soil or loam ; then about one inch of pure sand (I use sea sand), and cover the sand with sawdust made from dry or well-seasoned wood, about one inch deep. Plant the seeds in the sawdust half an inch deep or more ; thoroughly wet the whole, and keep the top moist. Ifthe seeds are fresh and good they will sprout and come through on the eighth day. I have found no difficulty in sprouting them in the open air during the months of August, September, and October. It is, however, better to raise them under glass—the greater the heat the better success; but as soon as fairly up, put out in the air and sunlight. In six to eight weeks after the seeds are planted the trees will be large enough for transplanting to permanent sites, There is no time that they can be handled with equal success as when about six weeks old, or four to six inches high. The earth or place in which to be planted should be well cultivated, the soil smooth and free from clods, the trees set out just before rain, or in the evenings with a little water, the ordinary care required for setting out cabbage-plants will prove suc- cessful with the little Blue Gum plants. It is, how- ever, better to take advantage of approaching rains. I have, with ten men, transplanted as many as seven thousand in an afternoon, and have ninety-five per cent. live. The above plan of transplanting is only practicable during the rainy season. Ifthe ground is

38 FOREST CULTURE AND

well cultivated during the Winter and kept entirely clean the trees can be transplanted at any time dur- ing the Summer or dry season. To do this, however, it will be necessary to transplant. from boxes where germinated into other boxes, allowing about three inches square of soil and six inches deep, for each lit- tle tree, so that the soil with tree can be placed in the ground where they are permanently to grow, without disturbing or exposing the roots. There should be about half a bucket of water to each tree—the water put into the hole, and immediately after it disappears the tree set in. .

It is estimated of the Blue Gum that there are fifty thousand seeds in one pound, and that forty thousand will grow, being equal to two thousand five hundred to the ounce.

Eucalyptus rostrata, or Red Gum.—There are, of this variety, at least double the number, and equal to five thousand trees to the ounce. The plan of germinat- ing the seeds of this tree is very similar to that of the Blue Gum, excepting that there must be not over half the quantity of sawdust, and no sand required ; the seeds planted nearer the surface, and more heat neces- sary. The manner of transplanting the same as the Blue Gum.

Irecommend in forest-planting that the trees be set six to seven feet apart, and in rows, where it is possible, so as to cultivate with a horse, while the trees are small. Six by seven will give one thousand trees to the acre. After five years’ growth remove three fourths of them, leaving about two hundred and fifty of the straightest and best trees. My estimate

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 29

of income from the three fourths to be thinned out is as follows:

Seven hundred fence-posts, worth .... 1... .ce0 seen coos cece $100 Cord wood, Worth, ssjeis:seiseis cress wees Muss. ie. deeesianeews veiw ways 100

$200 Expense preparing and marketing. ........ ..60 sees seee--. 100

Profits $100, equal to $20 sali year, and better than barley crops, with all the value left on the ground. At the end of fifty years the two hundred and fifty trees left standing would be worth $10,000, and equivalent to one hundred per cent. profit on the investment, allowing the land to be worth $100 per acre, and interest compounded at ten per cent. per year. M. Trottier’s estimate gives as much in half the number of years.

The estimate of profit on one acre of White Ash, in the Western States, at the end of twelve years, is $600.

The measurement of trees in Springfield, Ohio, twenty years’ growth, one foot above the ground: Larch, 103 inches; Birch, 103; Elm, 1445; Spruce, 14; Burr Oak, 15. They are planting in the Prairie States one hundred and fifty million trees annually, occupying about two hundred thousand acres, and equal to about one thirty- fifth of the destruction throughout the entire country.

Humboldt, the great philosopher, said: ‘‘ Men, in all climates, seem to bring upon future generations two calamities at once—a want of fuel and a scarcity of water.”’

A blessing has been pronounced upon the man who would make two blades of grass grow in place of one. How much more is this due to the man who plants a tree where nothing grew before.

30 FOREST CULTURE AND

Taking in view the conditions so favorable for tree- planting in California, and the great necessity of for- est protection, the only wonder is that something as I have suggested was not commenced several years ago. The reasons are so many and so obvious that there is not a question as to the necessity; and if a necessity, it becomes the duty of every land-owner to begin at once to plant trees. It is also clear that in whatever it is our duty to act it is our duty to study. I have therefore thought it worth while to present to you in this lecture a few sketches, which cannot but prove useful till they give place to something better. If the effort creates in the minds of the people an inter. est in the subject, all that could be hoped for will be accomplished. No one disputes the importance of planting on the plan suggested ; neither can the feasi- bility be questioned. Contemplate the beauty, the grandeur, the productiveness of the great valleys of the Sacramento, the San Joaquin, the Salinas plain, and of every strip of arable land in the State, with belts of Eucalyptus -trees planted as I have recom- mended. With such shelter California would become the paradise of the world. .

How is this to be brought about? By convincing owners of land that financially it will be a great suc- cess. Individual effort alone must accomplish the work. We cannot look to the State for either aid or protection, as, in this tndependent, free Republic, the Government or the State is powerless in the execution of any measure that would compel land-owners to plant trees, no matter how urgent the necessity or how important the duty. What we have therefore to do, as individuals, is to begin at once to plant. It is

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 31

an obligation we owe to the possessory title to land ; and financially we will be amply rewarded for our labors.

The following I have copied from a pamphlet, en- titled «‘ The Principal Timber-Trees Readily Eligible for Victorian Industrial Culture,” by Baron Ferd. von Mueller. (The same offered to the Victorian Acclimation Society—pages 20, 21, and 22):

EUCALYPTUS AMYGDALINA (Labill.). —In our sheltered, springy forest glens, attaining not rarely a height of over four hundred feet, there forming a smooth stem and broad leaves, producing also seed- lings of a foliage different to the ordinary state of Euc. amygdalina, as occurs in more open country. ‘This species or variety, which might be called Euca- lyptus regnous, represents the loftiest tree in British territory, and ranks next to the Sequoia Wellingtonia in size anywhere on the globe. The wood is fissile, well adapted for shingles, rails, for house-building, for the keelson and planking of ships, and other pur- poses. Labillardiere’s name applies ill to any of the forms of this species. Seedlings raised on rather barren ground near Melbourne have shown the same amazing rapidity of growth as those of the Fue, globulus ; yet, like those of Huc. obliqua, they are not so easily satisfied with any soil.

_ EUCALYPTUS CITRIODORA (Hooker). —Queensland. It combines with the ordinary qualities of many Eu- calypts the advantage of yielding from its leaves a rather large supply of volatile oil, of excellent lemon- like fragrance.

EUCALYPTUS DIVERSICOLOR (F. v. Mueller),—The Karri of S. W. Australia. A colossal tree, excep-

82 FoREst cULTURH AND

tionally reaching to the height of four hundred feet, with a proportionate girth of the stem. The timber is excellent. Fair progress of growth is shown by the young trees, planted even in dry, exposed localities in Melbourne. The shady foliage and dense growth of the tree. promise to render it -one of our best for avenues. In its native localities it occupies fertile, tather humid valleys. .

EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS (Labill.).—Blue Gum of Victoria and Tasmania. This tree is of extremely rapid growth, and attains a height of four hundred feet, furnishing a first-class wood. Ship-builders get keels of this timber one hundred and twenty feet long ; besides this, they use it extensively for planking, and many other parts of the ship, and it is considered to be generally superior to American Rock Elm. A test of strength has been made between some Blue Gum, English Oak, and Indian Teak, The Blue Gum car- ried fourteen pounds weight more than the Oak, and seventeen pounds four ounces more than Teak, upon the square inch. Blue Gum wood, ‘besides being used for ship-building, is very extensively used by carpen- ters for all kinds of out-door work ; also, for fence-rails, railway-sleepers—lasting about nine years—for shafts and spokes of drays, and a variety of other purposes.

EUCALYPTUS GOMPHOCEPHALA (Candolle), — The Tooart of 8S. W. Australia. Attains a height of fifty feet. The wood is close-grained, hard, and not rend- ‘ing. Itis used for ship-building, wheelwright’s work, and other purposes of artisans,

EUCALYPTUS MARGINATA (Smith).—The Jarrah or Mahogany tree of S. W. Australia, famed for its inde- structible wood, which is attacked neither by che-

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 33

lura, nor teredo, nor termites, and therefore so much sought for jetties and other structures exposed to sea- water ; also for any underground work, and largely exported for railway sleepers. Vessels built of this timber have been enabled to do away with all copper- plating. It is very strong, of a close grain and a slightly oily and resinous nature. It works well, makes a fine finish, and is by ship-builders here con- sidered superior to either Oak, Teak, or, indeed, any any other wood. The tree grows chiefly on iron- stone ranges.

At Melbourne itis not quick of growth, if compared to our Blue Gum (Eue. globulus, Lab.), or to our Stringy-bark (E. obliqua, ’1 Her.), but it is likely to grow with celerity in our ranges.

EUCALYPTUS ROSTRATA (Schlechtendal).* — The Red Gum of Victoria, South Australia, and many river- flats in the interior of the Australian continent. Al- though a native tree of this colony, it has been intro- duced into this list on account of its wood being of extraordinary endurance under ground, and for this reason so highly valued for fence-posts, piles, and rail- way sleepers; for the latter purpose it will last at least a dozen years, and if well-selected, much long- er. Itis also extensively used by ship-builders, for main stem, stern-post, inner post, deadwood, floor tim- bers, futtocks, transoms, knight-head, hawse-pieces, cant, stern, quarter and fashion timber, bottom-planks, breast-hooks, and riders, windlass, bow-rails, ete., etc. It should be steamed before it is worked for planking. Next to the Jarrah, from West Australia, this is the oa Second supplement by the same author. It is said of this variety that

instances are on record of the stem having attained a girth of sixty feet, at six feet from the ground, through the formation of buttresses.

34 FOREST CULTURE AND

best wood for resisting the attacks of sea-worms and white ants. For other details of the uses of this and other native trees, refer to the reports of the Victori- an Exhibitions of 1862 and 1867. The trees attain a height of fully one hundred feet. The supply for our local wants falls already short, and cannot be ob- tained from Tasmania, where the tree does not nat- urally exist.

EUCALYPTUS SIDEROXYLON (Cunn). — Iron - bark tree. It attains a height of one hundred feet, and supplies a valuable timber, possessing great strength and hardness. It is much prized for its durability by carpenters, ship- builders, ete. It is largely em- ployed by wagon - builders, for wheels, poles, ete. ; by ship-builders for top-sides, tree-nails, the rudder (stock), belaying-pins, and’ other purposes; it is also used by turners, for rough work. This is considered the strongest wood in our colony. It is much rec- ommended for railway-sleepers, and extensively used in underground mining work.

[Copied from an additional list offered to the same society by the same author, and published by said so- ciety in 1874—-pages 64, 65, 66, 67, and 68] :

EUCALYPTUS ACMENOIDES (Schauer).—New South Wales and East Queensland. The wood used in the same way as that of E. obliqua (the stringy-bark tree), butsuperior toit. Itis heavy, strong, durable, of a light color, and has been found good for palings, flooring-boards, battens, rails, and many other pur- poses of house carpentry. (Rev. Dr.’ Woolls.)

EUCALYPTUS BOTRYOIDES (Smith). — From East Gipps Land to South Queensland. One of the most stately among an extensive number of species, re-

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 35

markable for its dark green shady foliage. It delights on river banks. Stems attain a length of eighty feet without a branch, and a diameter of eight feet. The timber usually sound to the centre, adapted for water work, wagons, knees of boats, etc. Posts of it very lasting, as no decay was observed in fourteen years.

EUCALYPTUS BRACHYPODA (Turezaninow).— Wide- ly dispersed over the most arid extra-tropical as well as tropical inland regions of Australia. One of the best trees for desert tracts; in favorable places one hundred and fifty feet high. Wood brown, some- times very dark, hard, heavy, and elastic, prettily marked ; thus used for cabinet work, but more particu- larly for piles, bridges, and railway-sleepers. (Rey. Dr. Woolls.)

EUCALYPTUS CALOPHYLLA (B® Brown). — South- west Australia. More umbrageous than most Eu- calypts, and of comparatively rapid growth. The wood is free of resin when grown on alluvial land- but not so when produced on stony ranges. It is pre- ferred to that of £. marginata and £. cornuta for rafters, spokes, and fence-rails ; it is strong and light but not long lasting underground. The bark is valua- ble for tanning, as an admixture to Acacia bark.

EvcaLyPptTus CoRNuUTA (Labillardiere). — South- west Australia. A large tree, of rapid growth, pre- ferring asomewhat humid soil. The wood is used for various artisans’ work, and there preferred for the strongest shafts and frames of carts, and other work requiring hardness, toughness, and elasticity.

EUCALYPTUS CREBRA (F. v. Mueller).—The narrow- leaved iron-bark tree of New South Wales and Queens. land. Wood reddish, hard, heavy, elastic, and dura-

36 FOREST CULTURE AND

ble; much used in the construction of bridges; also, of wagons, piles, fencing, etc. . melanophioia (F. v. M.), the silver-leaved iron-bark tree, and Z. leptoph- leba, E. trachyphioia and E. drepanphylla are closely allied species of similar value. They ‘all exude as- tringent gum-resin in considerable quantity, resem- bling kino in appearance and property.

EUCALYPTUS DORATOXYLON (F. v. Mueller).— The spear-wood of South-west Australia, where it occurs in sterile districts. The stem is slender and remark- ably straight, and the wood of such firmness and elas- ticity that the nomadic natives wandér long distances to obtain it as material for their spears.

EUCALYPTUS EUGENIOIDES (Sieber).—New South Wales. Regarded by the Rev. Dr. Woolls as a fully distinct species. Itsplendid wood, there, often call- ed Blue Gum-tree wood, available for many purposes, and largely utilized for ship-building.

EvcALYPTUS GUNNII (J. Hooker).—Victoria, Tas- mania and New South Wales, at alpine and subalpine elevations, The other more hardy Eucalyptis com- prise £. coriacea, E. alpina, E. urnigera, E. coccifera, and £. vernicosa, which all reach heights covered with snow for several months in the year.

EUCALYPTUS PANICULATA (Smith). —The White Iron-bark tree of New South Wales. All the trees of this series are deserving of cultivation, as their wood, though always excellent, is far from alike, and that of each species preferred for special purposes of the artisans.

EUCALYPTUS PHENICEA, (F. v. Muller).—Carpen- taria and Arnheim’s Land. Of the quality of the tim- ber hardly- anything is known, but the brilliancy of

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 37

its scarlet flowers recommends this species to a place inany forest or garden plantation. For the same rea- son, also, E. miniata, from North Australia, and EZ, Jicifolia, from South-west Australia, should be brought extensively under cultivation.

EUCALYPTUS PILULARIS (Smith).—The Black-butt tree of South Queensland, New South Wales, and Gipps Land. One of the best timber-yielding trees about Sydney; of rather rapid growth (Rev. Dr. Woolls). It is much used for flooring-boards.

EUCALYPTUS PLATYPHYLLA (F. v. Mueller.)— Queensland. Regarded by the Rev. Julian Tenison Woods as one of the best of shade-trees, and seen to produce leaves sometimes one and one half feet long, and one foot wide. This tree is available for open, exposed localities, where trees from deep forest valleys would not thrive.

EUCALYPTUS ROBUSTA (Smith).—New South Wales. The timber in use for ship-building, wheel- wright’s work, and marry implements, such as mal- lets, ete.

EUCALYPTUS RESINIFERA (Smith ).—The Red Mahogany Eucalypt of South Queensland and New South Wales. A superior timber - tree, according to the Rev. Dr. Woolls, the wood being much prized for its strength and durability.

EUCALYPTUS SIDEROPHLOIA ( Bentham ). — The large-leaved or red Iron-bark tree of New South Wales and South Queensland. According to the Rev. Dr. Woolls, this furnishes one of the strongest and most durable timbers of New South Wales; with. great advantage used for railway sleepers, and for many building purposes. It is harder even than the wood

3¥

88 FOREST CULTURE.

of £. sideroxylon, but thus also worked with more diffi- culty:

EUCALYPTUS TERETICORNS (Smith).—From East Queensland to Gipps Land. Closely allied to &. ros- trata and seemingly not inferior to it in value.

EUCALYPTUS TESSELARIS (F. v. Mueller). —N. Australia and Queensland. Furnishes a brown, rather elastic wood, not very hard, available for many kinds of artisan’s work, and particularly sought for staves and flooring. The tree exudes much astringent gum resin (P. O’Shanesy). Many other Eucalypts could have been mentioned as desirable for wood culture, but it would have extended this enu- meration beyond the limits assigned to it. Moreover,

“the quality of many kinds is not yet sufficiently as- certained, or not yet fully appreciated even by the artisans and woodmen.

PLANT CATALOGUE,

ANDERSON, HALL & CO., SYDNEY.

N. 8S. WALES HARDWOOD TIMBER-TREES,

In many respects, no timbers in the world can com- pare with those of Australia, For all purposes requir- ing great strength, combined with great durability, they are unapproached. Those of New South Wales have, as arule, a reputation in those respects superior to those of similar species in the other Australian colo- nies, This superiority has been noticed more par- ticularly in tougher and closer - packed tissues. So much is this the case that, for some particular pur- poses, such timber as Iron-bark and Blue Gum have to be obtained from New South Wales for use in Victoria, although both species are common there. Among other peculiarly valuable properties possessed by our timbers, for such purposes as bridges, jetties, or any other buildings where strong timber may be used, not the least is the valuable quality of difficult ignition and lack of inflammability.

Of late years these woods, and the forests which produce them, have attracted a great deal of attention jn Europe, not only for the qualities of the timber, but for other properties, which are being from time to time discovered by science, and promising extraor-: dinary riches in both medicine and the arts,

40 FOREST CULTURE AND

Asa fuel, both for domestic and industrial purposes, the wood, natural and carbonized, of some species, is superior to most others, and, for steam purposes, some, as Iron-bark and Box, are only inferior to coal.

Possessing so many valuable qualities, combined with the fact that these trees are found growing, in New South Wales, in boundless forests, under extremes of climate, both as to heat and cold — ranging from one hundred and thirty to twenty-five degrees Fah- renheit—it may be inferred that forests of them will some day be planted in many other parts of the world.

The following list comprises the principal species :

1. WHITE GuM (Eucalyptus hemastoma).—Yields gum resin largely, is not remarkable for its timber, but is a good domestic fuel. Height, fifty to one hun- dred feet.

2. RIVER WHITE Gum (£. radiata),—A fair-last- ing timber for rough fencing; difficult to burn; a bad fuel. One hundred feet.

3. BLUE GUM, COMMON PARRAMATTA (£. rostrata, B.)—Used in ship-building for knees, beams, and some kinds of planking. A very durable wood ; will last well as posts in the ground ; inferior fuel. One hun- dred and twenty feet.

4, FLOODED BLUE Gum (£. eugenotdes).— The best timber for ship-building (planking in particular) ; very durable. One of the best timbers for many purposes ; inferior fuel. One hundred and eighty feet.

5. GREY GuM OR RED GuM (E£. tereticornis). — A very strong, durable, hard wood, almost equal to Iron- bark for some.purposes ; lasts.in the ground ; inferior fuel. One hundred and fifty feet.

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 41

6. DRooPpine Gum (£. saligna). — A medium tim- ber ; inferior fuel. One hundred feet.

7. BLUE GUM LIKE THE FLOODED Gum (£. gont- calyx), Used in ship-building ; is the best wood for felloes in wheels; very durable; inferior fuel. One hundred and fifty feet.

8. SPoTTED GuM (E. maculata). — A very strong, light, and elastic timber, very durable as girders or beams ; the best wood for staves, and useful for sawn timber in household carpentry ; first-class fuel for domestic use. One hundred and twenty feet.

9, DARK OR BROAD-LEAVED IRON-BARK (£, side- rophioia).—The most valuable wood for piles, girders, railway-sleepers, and for every purpose in which. strength and durability are required ; even shingles of ane fourth inch thickness have been known to last sound on roofs for forty years. This species and the two following are the strongest of all Australian tim- bers, and are used for a greater number of purposes— spokes, shafts, poles, frames, by wheelwrights; the best telegraph-posts, fencing of all kinds, and none are equal to it for cogs in mill-work. It is superior to most as fuel for steam-engines, as it throws off more heat, ete., etc. One hundred and fifty feet.

10. COMMON IRON-BARK (£. paniculata).—For most purposes equal to the last species; is less inlocked and is more easily split into shingles or palings; it is as last- ing and as good fuel as other Iron-barks; the wood is not so dark in color. One hundred and twenty feet.

11, SMALL-LEAVED OR SHE IRON-BARK (£. micro- phylla) (?).—The wood of this species is used for fenc- ing and many purposes the same as the’ other Iron- barks. But the wood being of a nature much more

42 FOREST CULTURE AND

easy to werk, it may be used in carpentry in many ways, to which the hardness of the other sorts offers an obstacle; first-class fuel. One hundred and twenty feet.

12, STRINGY-BARK (E. obliqgua).— The best wood for flooring-boards, rafters, and sawn stuff generally ; it is of very thick growth, inferior fuel, but produces the best charcoal for the forge. One hundred and twenty feet.

13. BLACK-BUTT(E. pilularis).— Wood like Stringy- bark, and used for similar purposes. Small spars of this species are used for shipping. It is almost the only Eucalyptus that is used for this purpose; inferior fuel. One hundred and fifty to two hundred feet.

14. YELLOW BLACK-BUTT (£. obtusiflora).—Timber like the preceding, but softer and more easily work- ed, and of a yellow tint. It is a remarkably quick grower. One hundred and fifty feet.

15. CoMMon Box (£. hemiphloia).—A hard but use- ful timber, strong, tough, and durable, but will not last as posts or piles sunk in the ground. It is, also, a first-class fuel both for domestic use and for steam or other industrial purposes. One hundred to one hundred and fifty feet.

16. MESSMATE, OR ALMOND-LEAVED STRINGY- BARK (L£. amygdalina).—A first-class timber for floor- ing-boards, joists, and: other house-carpentry. It is like Stringy-bark, but the tree is an ace larger, and it is not so generally distributed. It is a bad wood for domestic fuel, but is a first-rate smiths’ charcoal. One hundred, and fifty to two hundred feet.

_ 17. Buack Box (£, bicolor).—A highly valued tim- ber - tree; it is equal to the best Iron - bark for all the

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 43

purposes for which that wood is’ used, and is more easily wrought. Itis sometimes called ‘Iron - bark Box.’’ One hundred to one hundred and fifty feet.

18. WOOLLEYBUTT (£. longifolia). — An average- sized tree. Fair timber for fencing and building pur- poses; it is a good fuel for domestic use; very dura- ble, and is said to be less liable to the attack of the white. ant than any other of the Eucalypti. One hun- dred to one hundred and twenty feet.

19. BLoopwoop (£. corymbosa). — A very large tree. Timber first-class for posts, piles, and such like; it is extremely durable in the ground. It is nota favorite as sawn timber, on account of its many gum veins; not a good fuel. One hundred and fifty to two hundred feet.

20. Swamp MawoeGany (£. robusta)—A good last- ing timber for house-carpentry and many kinds of turnery. It is not durable in the ground, but for other purposes it is very durable, and is nota favorite with the white ant. It is not remarkable as a burning wood. Its specific gravity is great. One hundred and fifty feet.

EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS (Tasmania Blue Gum).— In the once despised Gum-tree (Zucalyptus).it has been discovered that qualities exist which place it transcendently above any other plants, if not above all other plants, in hygienic importance.

By its means large tracts of the very richest land will be made available in many parts of the world. In India, and other parts of Southern Asia, vast areas are left without culture or occupation, overrun with jungle and forest, and totally unfit for man’s abode on account of their malarja-producing character. Al.

44 FOREST CULTURE,

ready has the malaria-destroying exhalations of EFu- calyptus globulus been practically proved beyond a doubt in Europe, Africa, and America. It is confi- dently stated that in the fatal Roman Pontine Marshes, and the no less fatal swamps of Lombardy and other parts of Italy, the Kucalyptus globulus has rendered healthy, localities in which to sleep a single night was all but certain death.

In America, the Gum-tree is being most extensive- ly planted, with the view of making uninhabitable districts healthy. In fact, so ample are the proofs of its efficacy that millions of malarious acres in all parts of the globe where the climate suits it will, within a very few years, be planted with ‘Blue Gum.”’

Eucalyptus globulus has already become noted in all temperate climes as ‘‘ The Fever-tree,” and certain it is that it truly deserves the name. Doubtless other species of Hucalyptus possess the same beneficial prop- erty, but globulus is the only one which has yet been so abundantly tested by practical trial.

It is the easiest of the tribe to rear, and develops from the seedling into the tree with great rapidity. - So great has become the demand from Europe and America for seed that the forests of Tasmania are threatened with annihilation. To give our friends some idea of the demand, we sold have nearly half a ton of seed during the past year. One pound weight should produce many thousands of plants; this will give some estimate of the enormous number of trees that must now be planted all over the world,

FOREST CULTURE

IN ITS

RELATIONS TO INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS:

A DECTURE,

‘ DELIVERED BY

Baron Ferd, von Mueller, C.M.G., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S,

(Government Botanist for Victoria, and Director of the Botanic Gardens of Melbourne),

On the 22d of June, 1871.

“ The toils of science swell the wealth of art."" BuLWwER Lytton, from Schiller.

Strange as it may appear, an impression seems to be prevailing in these communities that our forests have to serve no other purposes but to provide wood for our immediate and present wants, be it fuel or timber. For even after the warning of climatic changes, and after the commencing scarcity of wood, no forest administration, at least none adequate or regularly organized, has been initiated in any portion of Australia ; and thus the forests, even in districts already very populous, remain almost unguarded, become extensively reduced, and in some localities are already annihilated ; indeed, the requirements of the current time alone are kept in view. Under such circumstances it cannot be surprising that neither an

46 FOREST CULTURE AND

universal forest supervision, nor a judicious restraint of consumption, nor an ample utilization of all the various collateral resources of our woodlands, received that serious attention to which such measures became more and more entitled.

During the earlier years of our colonization, while the population was but thinly scattered over the ter- ritory, or densely concentrated in a few places only, all demands on the wood resources were comparatively so limited as to cause, perhaps, nowhere vast destruc- tion of the timber vegetation, much less any alarm for meeting the requirements of the future. Then followed the first gold period, with all its bustle, tur- moils and agitations, preventing reflection on almost anything except the immediate wants of that stormy time. Subsequently, when the commotion and ex- citement of the earlier gold era had calmed down, other obstacles arose, which, in their conflicts, brought rouch sadness on this young country, and retarded for years its full progress. But now, when apparent- ly also these difficulties have been surmounted, it will be all the more incumbent on our statesmen and legis- lators to exclude no longer from their consideration and watchfulness that remaining portion of a bequest which bountiful Nature, in its rich woods, has in- trusted to our care, The maintenance of these forest riches should engage not only the loftiest forethought, but also a well-guided and scrupulous vigilance.

How forests beneficially affect a clime, how they supply equable humidity, how they afford extensive shelter, create springs, and control the flow of rivers— all this the teachings of science, the records of history, and more forcibly still, the sufferings or even ruin of

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 47

numerous and vast communities, have demonstrated in sad experiences, not only in times long past, but even in very recent periods. In what manner the forests arrest passing miasmata, or set a limit to the spreading of rust-spores from ruined cornfields; in what manner their humid atmosphere and their feath- ered singers effectually obstruct the march of armies of locusts in the Orient, or hinder the progress of vast masses of acrydia in North America, or oppose the wanderings of other insects elsewhere — all this has been clearly witnessed in our own age. How the for- ests, as slow conductors of heat, lessen the tempera- ture of warm climes, or banish siroccos ; how forests, as ready conductors of electricity, much influence and attract the current of the vapors, or impede the elas- tic flow of the air, with its storms and its humidity, far above the actual height of the trees, and how they condense the moisture of the clouds by lowering the temperature of the atmosphere, has over and over again been ascertained by many a thoughtful observer. In what mode forests shelter the soil from solar heat, and produce coolness through radiation from the end- lessly-multiplied surfaces of their leaves, and through the process of exhalations; how, in the spongy stra- tum of decaying vegetable remnants, they retain far more humidity than even cultivated soil; how they with avidity re-absorb the surplus of moisture from the air, and refresh by a never-wanting dew all vege. tation within them and in their vicinity, has been explained, not only by natural philosophy, but also often by observations of the plainest kind. How for- est-trees, by the powerful penetration of their roots, decompose the rocks, and force unceasingly from deep

48 FOREST CULTURE AND

strata the mineral elements of vegetable nutrition to the surface ; how they create and maintain the sources for the gentle flow of watercourses for motive power, aqueducts, irrigation, water - traffic and navigation ; how they mitigate or prevent malarious influences — of all this we become cognizant by daily experiences almost everywhere around us. We have to look, ‘therefore, far beyond a mere temporary wood supply, when we wish to estimate the blessings of forest vege- tation rightly ; and our mind has to grasp the com- plex causes and sequences originating with and de- pending on the forests, before their value as a total can be understood.

“ Here, in the sultriest season, let us rest ! Fresh is the green beneath those aged trees ; Here air of gentlest wing will fan our breast— From heaven itself we may inhale the breeze.” ByRon.

Let us then take timely warning ; let us remember that denuded earth parts with its warmth by radiation, and is intensely heated by insulation ; that thus in woodless countries the extremes of climate are brought about in rendering the Winter-cold far more intense and boisterous, and the Summer-heat far more burning and oppressive. Let us remember why the absence or destruction of forests involves periodic floods and droughts, with all the great disasters inseparable therefrom. Let us bear in mind that even in bur praised Australia many a pastoral tenant saw his herds and flocks perish, and even the very kangaroos off his run; how he looked hopefully for months and months at every promising cloud which drew up on the hori- zon, only to dissolve rainless in the dry desert air; whereas, when the squatter’s ruin was completed,

BUCALYPTUS TREES. 49

the last pasture parched, and the last waterpool dried up, great atmospheric changes would send the rain- clouds over the thirsty land with all the vehemence of precipitation, and would convert dry creeks into foaming torrents, or inundate with furious floods the very pastures over which the carcasses of the famished cattle and sheep were strewn about! Picture to your- selves the ruined occupant of the soil, hardly able to escape with his bare life from the sudden scenes of these tragic disasters! Fortunately, as yet such ex- treme events may not have happened commonly ; yet they did occur, and pronounced their lessons impress- ively. Let it be well considered that it is not alone the injudicious overstocking of many a pasture, or the want of water-storage, but frequently the very want of rain itself for years in extensive woodless districts, which renders occupation of many of our inland tracts so precarious. Let it also not be forgot- ten how, without a due proportion of woodland, no country can be great and prosperous! Remember how whole mountain districts of Southern Europe be- came, with the fall of the forests, utterly depopulated; how the gushes of wide currents washed away all ara~ ble soil, while the bordering flat land became buried in debris ; how its rivers became filled with sediment, while the population of the lowland were at the same time involved in poverty and ruin! Let us recollect that in many places the remaining alpine inhabitant had to toil with his very fuel for many miles up to the once wooded hills, where barrenness and bleakness would perhaps no longer allow a tree to vegetate ! It should be borne in mind that the productiveness of cereal fields is often increased at the rate of fully fifty

50 FOREST CULTURE AND

per cent. merely by establishing plantations of shelter- trees ; that the progress of drift-sand is checked by tree-plantations ; and that a belt of timber not only affords protection against storms, but also converts sandy wastes finally into arable meadows, thus adding almost unobserved, yet unceasingly, so far to the re- sources of a country.

Shall we follow, then, the example of those improvi- dent populations who, by clearing of forests, dimin- ished most unduly the annual fall of rain, or pre- vented its retention ; who caused a dearth of timber and fuel, by which not solely the operations of their artisans became already hindered or even paralyzed, but through which even many a flourishing country tract was already converted almost into a desert Should we not rather commence to convert any desert tract into a smiling country, by thinking early and unselfishly of the requirements of those who are to follow us? Why not rather imitate the example set by an Egyptian sovereign, who alone caused, during the earlier part of this century, 20,000,000 of trees to be planted in formerly rainless parts of his domin- ions.

Dr. H. Rogers, of Mauritius, issued, this year, a re- port ‘‘on the effects of the cutting-down of forests on the climate and health of Mauritius.” Still, in 1854,. the island was resorted to by: invalids from India as the ‘‘pearl’’ of the Indian Ocean, it being then one mass of verdure. When the forests were cleared, to gain space for sugar cultivation, the rainfall dimin- ished even there ; the rivers dwindled down to mud- dy streams; the water became stagnant in cracks, revices, and natural hollows, while the equable tem-

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 61

perature of the island entirely changed ; even drought was experienced in the midst of the ocean, and thun- der-showers were rarely any longer witnessed. The lagoons, rnarshes, and swamps along the seaboard were no longer filled with water, but gave off nox- ious gases; while the river- waters became impure from various refuse. After a violent inundation, in February, 1865, followed by a period of complete dry- ness, fever, of a low type, set in, against which the remedies employed in ordinary febrile cases proved utterly valueless. From the waterless sides of the lagoons, pestilential malaria arose, exposed to which the laborers fell on the field, and, in some instances, died within a few hours afterward. But scarcity of good food among the destitute classes, and inadequate sewagegarrangement, predisposed also to the dread- ful effect of the fever, atthe time. As stated by my- self, on a former public occasion, marshes should either be fully drained or the means of continuing them submerged should not be withdrawn. Dr. Rogers very properly insists that the plateaux and highlands of Mauritius must be replanted, alone on sanitary reasons. The small island of Malta re- quires, at this moment, to make strenuous effort for wood culture, to render tillage further possible and the clime more tolerable. The once forest-covered hills, which bordered the rich garden country of Mur- cia, in Moorish times, are now masses of arid rocks ; while Spain, nowadays, is even helpless to obtain its very fuel, and thus all its technologic industries must languish. No wonder, then, if our here much-disre- garded Eucalypts are called there the trees of the future.

52 FOREST CULTURE AND

But I have, on this occasion, dwelt already long enough on the stern necessity of securing a due rela- _tion of forest to territory, of woods to climate, of tim- ber to industries. These great questions have been discussed, by able men, through time long passed, in all countries of civilization. The details, moreover, of such discussions demand a special and fuller teach- ing, for which, perhaps, opportunities may yet arise in this hall. But to those who wish early to devote fuller attention to vital considerations of this kind, I would recommend the perusal of the admirable work of George P. Marsh (Man and Nature; or Physical Geography, as modified by Human Action. London: 1864). That author studied the scattered and largely foreign literature pertaining to this subject with sin- gular care, observed very many original fagts, and argued on them with great ability. A smaller, still more recent publication (Disastrous Effects of the De- struction of Forest Trees in Wisconsin, by Lapham, Knapp, and Crocker, published in 1867) is also de- serving full attention, inasmuch as it brings before us the difficulties and losses which the destruction of the forests has already caused in one of the younger of the American States ; while, again, Indian experiences in regard to forests may be traced in the valuable vol- ume issued by Dr. Cleghern (Forests of the Punjab and Western Himalaya ; Roor Kee, 1864). Some observa- tions of my own, applying to countries like North Af- rica, have been recorded two years ago in the Bulle. tin de la Societe d’ Agriculture d’ Alger. One of the main objects, however, of my address this evening, is to show in what manner a well-or- ganized and yet inexpensive system of forest admin-

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 53

istration might check the indiscriminate destruction of the woods, without, perhaps, lessening the rate of the present yield ; in what manner numerous latent industrial resources of our ranges might be speedily and successfully developed, and a higher revenue thus be raised by the state ; in what manner this increased income could be best employed, to maintain or enrich the forests, or to raise woods where naturally none existed ; and by what new means prosperous occupa- tion might be afforded to many a happy family in the still and salubrious sylvan recesses of this country. And here I would at once remark, that for any ad< ministrative organization to watch over our forest interests we must follow an independent path of our own in this young country, because the systems of | forest management adopted with so much advantage in Germany, France, and Scandinavia are here appli- cable only to a very limited extent. This must be at once apparent to any one who will reflect on the dis- parity which exists between our clime, our native tree vegetation, our present ratio of population and value of labor, as compared with similar conditions of the older and far more densely inhabited countries of middle and northern Europe, not to speak of the very much wider scope which, for the selection of trees for our future use, the isothermal zone of Victoria allows. On the latter subject our Acclimatization Society has recently published the views which I entertain in ref- erence to the many various trees eligible for the geo- graphic latitudes of a colony like ours.* Next I pro- ceed to give, though very briefly, only an outline of the special system of administration, which I would

* Appendix to the Annual Report of the Vict. Acclimat. Soc., 1870-71, 4

54 FOREST CULTURE AND

advise to be adopted ‘in the first instance, as well for the supervision, enrichment, and utilization of our native forests as fur creating als) new ones. On vari- ous occasions I have alluded to such a plan of surveil- lance before. More recently, though only passingly, in a lecture delivéred at this hall, I advocated the formation of local Forest Boards in the different dis- tricts of our colonial territory. Various considera- tions led me to recommend this system. The admin- istration, as an honorary one, would involve no direct expenditure to the State. It would bring to bear in each locality special watchfulness and local talent. In each district could readily be found a few inhabit- ants who not only possess some knowledge of tree- culture in general, but who, also, by their direct in- terest in the present and future welfare of the locality in which they live, in which they gained experiences, in which they hold property, and in which they rear- ed a family, would be induced, as much for the sake of direct and lasting advantages as from patriotic motives, to devote the needful time for serving on a local Forest Board. But there are still other weighty advantages, which claim support for this proposition. Various tracts of the Victorian territory are—as might be imagined — very unlike in climate and geologic structure. Each locality shows peculiar adaptabilities for special trees to be selected. One district can afford, by the possession of more extensive primeval forests, to be far more heavily taxed in its timber resources than another ; one tract of country can produce remu- neratively certain trees, which it would be hopeless to attempt raising in another locality. Some exten- sive areas have no forests at all, and in others they.

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 55

have all but succumbed already. Hence each Forest Board can best frame its own by-laws or local regula- tions, subject to the approval of ministerial authority ; each can best judge of its own particular requirements, not only for the present generation, but also of such as will be urgent at atime when the children and grand-children of the earlier colonists will have to form their judgment on the wisdom or shortcomings of their ancestors here at a time when the want of foresight may fall most crushingly on the vitality or progress of many an industry or even the whole pros- perity of the colony, or when, otherwise, the early operations of thoughtful local residents will prove to osterity an incalculable benefit. It will then become apparent whether the present colonists have done their duty to their descendants, and havebeen faith- ful to the future interests of their adopted country ; or whether they sunk all their ideas and efforts in temporary gain, regardless of all consequences. Each forest district, thus guarded by local administrators, will be able to produce a far larger income than now is raised from any of our wood areas ; while the re- moval of timber will be brought within more reason- able bounds, and the wants of the future no longer be disregarded. Means of disposal of the wood, differ- ent to the regulations now in force, would be adopted, to save, in places much denuded already of wood, the rest of the timber from complete destruction. Thus, for instance, trees might be sold by numbers at cer- tain sizes, with saving of the youthful trees; or the wood might be removed by the square mile, with a view of replanting. ‘The reckless ringing of trees (merely to obtain a little more grass) and stripping of

56 FOREST CULTURE AND

bark would be brought within stringent laws, and many other losses be obviated.

A gentleman at Hillesley counts, as late as this ‘very month, five splendid trees on an acre, cut down by the splitters, while only about one tenth of the wood is used; nine tenths being left to be swept away, sooner or later, by bush-fires. This improvidence goes on within a few hours’ drive from Melbourne. The stately sea - coast Banksias (Banksia integrifolia), so rare near Melbourne, and hardly occurring further westward, have been nearly exterminated within this month, as near to us as Brighton. On all this, local forest surveillance can form far the best opinion. Each Board should have its cultivator, who, simul- taneously, could perform the duties of forest-ranger. A few unprovided orphan boys might be occupied in the simple nursery or planting work for the forests. The officer intrusted with forest duties on behalf of the Government might aid, by frequent visits to each forest district, the various Boards with much advice. The expenditure for such an organization in each instance would be most moderate, would be product- ive already of early remunerative gain, and cause large and immediate savings. No statesman, I feel assured, would wish to impoverish our woods at the expense of the next generation, just as little as any legislator would hesitate to re-vote annually, for each forest administration, at least a portion of the revenue raised from the woods under its control. A sound economy of the State will not expect from a forest in, populous localities any more than to devote its means for self-support. One of the first duties devolving on any forest department would undoubtedly be to cause

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 57

in each district some fertile, sheltered valleys, readily accessible to good lines of traffic, to be selected, where, from springs or rivulets, water could be obtained for inexpensive irrigation, in order to reserve such spots for forest nurseries before they are all alienated from the Crown. The transit of the millions of seedlings needed for forest plantations, from remote spots, would not only be one of enormous and unnecessary expend- iture, but, in the many instances of evergreen and even some deciduous trees, it would be next to impos- sible to convey living plants for long distances. The union of Forest Boards to Road Boards or Shire Coun- cilsI regard inadvisable, because their scope of action is so different. The predilections of a member of a municipality will often be in building operations and kindred objects, while for culture processes he may have neither inclination nor experience, It is never _wise to burden too heavy responsibilities on a few honorary administrators, whose leisure in this youth- ful country, where so much work is yet under the first or early process of creating, is almost sure to be but limited.

But there are instances in which—as, indeed, a thoughtful legislator has suggested _—the Mining Boards might exercise, in their vicinity, supervision also over the woods. On many professional ques- tions, such as the renovation of forests, the best util- ization of their products, the increase of their riches, I would, myself, very gladly afford advice, and thus maintain a consulting position to the Forest Boards ; for, need I add, it has ever been my aim to serve, as far as it was within my means, the best interests of my fellow-colonists ; and while official responsibility

58 FOREST CULTURE AND

rests on me in this direction, I would wish to meet it in such a way that those who will live after us shall never be able to tax me with blindness to any impor- tant interest of our colony, so far as such were intrust- ed to my charge. But, then, the views of a profes- sional officer should be received with that considera- tion, and be seconded with that support, to which they have fair claim.

I pass the subject of the incalculable value of the native woods, such as we still possess in our own for- ests, whether viewed in their relation to arts or as mercantile export commodities. It isa matter far too large to dwellon, even cursorily, on this occasion. Were I to enumerate all the uses already practically known of our native trees, I would have to compile a goodly volume, even were I silent on the still far ampler subject of the introduction of the thousands of different foreign trees which I should like to see here for the use of future artisans and those who are to benefit by their services. A work bearing on the nature of the forest- trees of India, by Dr. Balfour, was kindly placed in my hands by Col. Sankey, whose stay among us we at present (22d June, 1871) enjoy for advice.on our water-works. Major Beddome, of Madras, issues a kindred illustrated work.

I may, however, be allowed to point to the enor- mous consumption of indigenous wood in some locali- ties, a3 this expenditure is utterly out of all proportion

-to the existing supply or its present natural renova- tion. This question presents itself all the more grave- ly, as no rich coal-seams are as yet discovered, by which the fuel-supply could be augmented from short distances, at a moderate price, We haye also to be

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 59

cognizant that we cannot think of coal-fields as inex- haustible, even in the richest coal countries ; and, although it is to be hoped that the day is very distant when the cheap results of colliery work will be marred by the much - increasing depth of the coal mines, or their partial exhaustion, yet we cannot altogether discard the idea that, so far as coals are concerned, we are working ona capital, however large it may be, without ever adding to it. In Victoria, we can neither augment the supply of burning material by peat, such as is so extensively utilized for fuel in the countries of the North, except we bring a very similar and equally useful peat from the distant and rug- ged heights of our Alpine mountains.

Although science has promised us prophetically other sources for applied heat—and I may add, motive power — in gases not yet within our technic reach or of universal application, we have, nevertheless, to deal with the stern realities of the day until new sci- entific achievements in this direction shall have been accomplished. At best, and looking ever so hopefully forward to the successes of the future, we cannot sub- stitute in an endless array of purposes air or coal for the ever-wanted living wood, even if all that concerns climate and health could be left out of our contempla- tion. As an instance, then, of our present consump- tion, or almost immediate requirements of wood, I would like to quote one or two examples.

The able Engineer - in- chief of the Railway De- partment —T. Higinbotham, Esq. —has obligingly supplied me with the following data in reference to the timber at present consumed for the Government railway lines, This gentleman explains also what will

60 FOREST CULTURE AND

most likely be needed within the next few years for this purpose.

‘<The number of sleepers which are used annually on the existing lines of railway, to replace decayed sleepers, is about forty thousand; and there can be no doubt that renewals at this rate at least must be con- tinued for many years to come. Each sleeper con- tains three and one eighth cubic feet of timber, and for renewals Red Gum timber is used exclusively, the principal supplies being obtained from the Murray River.

«The length of fencing, which is renewed annually on the existing lines, may be taken at eighteen miles, and the quantity of timber in a mile of fencing is about three thousand cubic feet ; the timber used in renew-

‘ing fencing is Messmate, Peppermint, and Stringy- bark, and the durability of these timbers when used for fencing may be taken at ten years.

«There are at present nearly one hundred and

‘twenty miles of new railway in course of construction, and sixty miles more will be undertaken before the close of this year. The new line of railway, the North-eastern, will be one hundred and eighty-one miles long, and for each mile two thousand sleepers are required, which at three and one-eighth cubic feet per sleeper gives six thousand two hundred and fifty cubic feet per mile ; or, for the whole length of one hundred and eighty-one miles, one million one hundred and thirty-one thousand two hundred and fifty cubic feet will be required for sleepers. The timber to be used in these sleepers will be Red Gum, Iron-bark, or Box. I have no actual experience of the durability of these timbers when used for sleepers ; but I believe

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 61

that it will be quite safe to reckon on their lasting for eighteen years. The ordinary Gums, when used for sleepers, will not last more than half that time.

‘¢The quantity of timber required for fencing the North-eastern railway will be one million eighty-six thousand cubic feet. The fence-posts will be of Red Gum, Iron-bark, Blue Gum, or Box, and the rails of Stringy-bark. I think that a fence of these materials will last for eighteen years. As to projected railways, it seems to be probable that on the average from thir- ty to forty miles will be made for the next ten years, in addition to the North-eastern railway already in progress. ’’

Iam further told, by a gentleman conversant with our railway affairs, that the engines on the present Government line use about three thousand tons of wood a year, while about eight hundred tons more’ are consumed on the stations. The Government line requires one hundred and fifty thousand Blackwood keys annually. On inquiry, I havealso learned that the breakwater at Williamstown will take four hun- dred piles, equal to eighteen thousand cubic feet, and for the superstructure of the piers ten thousand cubic feet more. The Melbourne Gas-works required, in 1870, not less than forty thousand superficial feet of Red Gum timber. The quantity of Red Gum wood required for these and other purposes cannot be in- creased by supplies from Tasmania, as the tree does not exist there. Again: the true Blue Gum-tree does not naturally occur beyond Victoria and Tasma- nia. If complete wood statistics could be collected, both of our daily requirements in town, on land, and on sea, and statistics also as to what really sound and

4,

62 FOREST CULTURE AND

straight timber is still available, some serious realities would be brought before us. z

At Ballarat, Creswick, Beechworth, Yackandandah, Sandhurst, Heathcote, Maryborough, Avoca, Castle- maine, Fryer’s Creek, and Ararat, some of the tim- ber for the mines has to be brought already from dis- tances as remote as ten to sixteen miles, according to returns of the Mining Surveyor, kindly furnished by Mr. R. Brough Smyth. At Pleasant Creek the min- ers have to go every year a mile further for their wood.

I quote the following important statement from Mr. R. B. Smyth’s Mineral Statistics of Victoria for 1870 :

Table showing approximately the Quantity and Cost of Timber consumed annually for Mining Purposes in the several Mining Districts, from returns made by the Mining Surveyors and

Registrars. { Firewood, etc. .......... 320,601 tons. £ 8. ad. Props and cap-pieces....1,650,555 pcs. BALLARAT cones “| Laths and slabs.........4,274,798 pes, f 908,024 4 7 Sawn timber.... . -5,772,110 feet. ri ( Firewood, etc. ...... 45,600 tons. ")} Props and cap-pieces. . 155,778 pcs. BEECHWORTH. -. 4 Taths and slabs......... 666,050 pes, f 99-639 17 4 Sawn timber.... -- 706,200 feet. | Firewood, etc........... 129,750 tons. Props and cap-pieces.... 290,300 pcs. SANDHURST..... 1 Taths and slabs.........1,174,500 pes f 92551 8 4 | Sawn lumber ........... 614,800 feet. Firewood, etc. ...... 98,373 tons, Props and cap-pieces 198,071 pes. MARYBOROUGH. ) 7 aths and slabs..... 309,182 pes. f 53647 4 3 Sawn timber.. +++. 786,987 feet. Firewood, etc........... 68,190 tons. Props and cap-pieces.... 142,791 pcs. CasTLEMAINE.. Laths and slabs......... 109,143 pes. 29,581 14 6 Sawn timber.... -. 456,100 feet. Firewood, etc.......... 91,860 tons, Props and cap-pieces.... 19,302 pes. ABARAT. ...0005 Lathswnd slabs 70,021 pes. 23,984 0 IL Sawn timber.... 250,000 feet. Firewood, etc. 12,744 tons. Props and cap-pieces 37,656 pes. Grers LAND.... 1 Laths and slabs. 22 _18'802 pes. 9,508 8 { Sawn timber........... 2 202/581 feet. J

V COBB ie aiejs scien cis £444,886 14 1

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 63

As a further evidence of the imperative necessity of finding wood by a mode different to the present means of obtaining it I translate and condense a por- tion of a letter from an accomplished mining engi- neer at Clunes (Wolfgang Mueller, Esq.), a spot which once boasted of forest scenery: The fuel required for the steam - engines alone at the mines of Clunes amounts, at the present rate of working, to not less than one million three hundred and eight thousand cubic feetannually. The nearest forest is ten miles dis- tant ; the price per cord ( of one hundred and twenty- eight cubic feet) is27s. ‘The cost of transit of the above engine-fuel amounts alone to, approximately, £10,000 pro anno ; the whole expenditure being about £15,000. The round wood, for subterranean use in the mines of Clunes, now annually comes to one hundred and sixty thousand running feet, at a value of £2,400 ; and this round wood cannot now be obtained nearer, than from twenty to twenty-five miles. The sawn and split timber for the Clunes mines has to be carried quite as far, adding about £700 to the wood expenses for these mines, the total being probably not less than £20,000 annually! No allowance is, however, made in these calculations for the domestic fuel of the min- ers. The price of wood is trebled already by cart- age at that spot.

No natural local upgrowth, even if not destroyed by fire or traffic, I am confident can come up to this rate of consumption ; and it is evident that annually the price for wood at these mining works must increase ; for many mine this may become a, question alto- gether as to the possibility of its further remunera- tive working. The mining operations, moreover, are

64 FOREST CULTURE AND

generally at a yearly increase, through new gold dis- coveries in the district spoken of, and elsewhere. Although, on the Clunes mines, the price of wood has not materially risen during the last six years, it must be borne in mind that remuneration of labor hassunk, indicating, in reality, a considerabte increase in the price of the fuel. New railway lines may, certainly, bring wood, for a time, at moderate prices, to the mi- ners ; but this measure copes not with the real diffi- culty of the wood question, but only defers it, as such ‘sources of supply will also become exhausted, while carriage, from an indefinite distance, will become a financial impossibility. The present price of coal, at Clunes, is far too high to allow it to be substituted for wood. Now let us pass on to still other considerations bearing on this question. It so happens that the de- crease of timber in our colonies is hastened by other agencies than those of sacrifice for utilitarian supply. Irrespective of the ordinary causes by which, in many countries, the virgin forests became devastated, there are, additionally, others which operate in our colony to augment the extensive destruction of woods. The miner ignites the underwood, witha view of uncover- ing any quartz-reefs or tracing mineral riches of other kinds. Although hedesires only to force thus his way through a limited space of scrub, or uncover, for inspec- tion, a small extent of ground, he really sets, some- times, the whole forest on fire, unchaining the furies of the fiery element, which, in its ruinous and rapid prog- ress, consumes innumerable stately trees, requiring the growth of one or even several centuries to attain their spacious dimensions, The burning trees, a prey of the flames, carry with them many others in their fall;

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 65

others become partially scorched, and linger gradu- ally to decay ; others become at least so far impaired as to offer no longer a sound or superior timber, Very aged Eucalyptus-trees are almost always suffering already from natural decay in the central portions of the stem, Jtis far from me to wish to impede the operations and progress of the miners, to whose intel- ligence and hard-working activity this country owes so much; but the advantages of gold-mining in our ranges may sometimes be too dearly bought at the expense of very extensive forest-destruction, with all the evils concomitant to it, or sure to follow it. Many other causes—-such as the carelessness of travelers— set also frequently portions of the forest on fire, while the control over the devastation is lost.

The answer to remonstrances amounts usually to an opinion that more wood is springing up again than has been destroyed; but let us ask, how long will it be until the suckers, saplings, or seedlings, which, undoubtedly, in many instances, occupy the burned ground, forming perhaps impenetrable thickets, until they will really have advanced to the size of timber- trees, fit for the saw-mill? In other localities, less densely wooded, where the trees were so dispersed as to give to the natural scenery, before it was dis- turbed, a park-like appearance, in such localities, which impressed on many of the original Australian landscapes so much peculiarity, the growth of bushy plants becomes, as arule, by occupation of the ground, quickly destroyed ; theshelter and shade, which kept, the mostly rather horizontal roots of the Eucalyptus trees cool and moist, become largely withdrawn ; the pendent Jeaves and lax or distant ramifications of the

66 FOREST CULTURE AND

tree itself giving but partial shade. The soil, more- over, remains no longer porous and permeable to moisture—it gets hardened, bare and consolidated by traffic and heat; the necessary moisture is wanting to keep the bark pliable, and to maintain the circula- tion of the sap active or normal; bark and wood are getting fissured and partly lifelesss; and now places of seclusion, as well as a wood fit for their ready at- tack, are given to numerous kinds of coleopterous and. other insects, which, by boring the ligneous tissue, are sure to complete the destruction of the trees. Pict- ures of absolute misefy of this kind may be noticed around our city in all directions. I have succeeded in saving many a venerable tree on the ground under my control, and in arresting the incipient decay by merely surrounding the base of the stem with earth turfed over, serving as seats ; or by removing the end- less quantity of mistletoe, which sucks the life-sap out of the branches, the invader perishing with its victim, there being no longer a multitude of native birds in populous localities to devour the mistle-berries. In many low localities, again, the ground, indurat- ed by traffic, collects a superabundance of moisture, which becomes stagnant, and detrimental to the trees of such spots. Various other peculiar causes tend to the decay of our trees : to allude to all is beyond our present object. How to provide, therefore, in time, the wood . necessary for our mines, railways, buildings, fences, and as well as for the ordinary domestic and other purposes, becomes a question which from year to year presses With increased urgency on our attention, the consideration of which we have already far too long

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 67

deferred. It may certainly be argued that in the eastern portion and some of the southern parts of the Victorian territory abundance of forests still exist — enough to supply all wants for many years to come. This is perfectly true in the abstract ; but how does this argument apply, when we well know that such timber occurs in secluded places, mostly on high and broken ranges, without roads. And even if the latter were constructed — which certainly will be required gradually—at what price can such timber be conveyed to the required distance ? Suppose, however, that all these difficulties had been overcome, whence are we to obtain the deals of northern Pines, the boards of the Red Cedar, and the almost endless kinds of other woods which future artisans will require ? For, assuredly, neither Europe nor North America can sustain the heavy call on their indigenous and even planted forests for an indefinite period tocome. Trop- ical woods might for a time be brought from the jun- gles of three continents, but certainly not at a small cost. Besides, tropical trees, as a rule, are not gre- garious; we cannot judge beforehand, in every in- stance, of their durability and other qualities; we cannot recognize their extraordinary variety of sorts specifically from mere inspection of the logs, and we should find ourselves soon surrounded by endless dif- ficulties and perplexities were we to depend on such resources alone. Would it not be far wiser timely to create independent resources of our own, for which we have really such great facility ? With equal ear- nestness another aspect of the timber question, as con- cerning our national economy, forces itself on our reflection. The inhabitable space of the globe is not

68 FOREST CULTURE AND

likely to increase, except through forces which would initiate a new organic creation, or, at all events, bring the present phase in the world’s history to a close ; but while the area of land does not increase, mankind, in spite of deadly plagues, of the horrors of warfare, and of unaccountable oppressions and miseries, which more extended education and the highest standard of morals can only reduce or subdue — mankind, in spite of all this, increases numerically so rapidly that before long more space must be gained for its very existence. Where can we look for the needful space ? Is it in the tropic zones, with their humid heat and depressing action on our energies? Or is it in the frigid zone, which sustains but a limited number of forms of organism ? Or is it rather in the temperate and particularly our warm temperate zone, that we have to offer the means of subsistence to our fellow- men, closely located as they in future must be? But this formation of dense and at the same time also thriving settlements, how is it to be carried out, unless, indeed, we place not merely our soil at the disposal of our coming brethren, but offer with this soil also the indispensable requisite of a vigorous industrial life, among which requisites the easy and inexpensive access to a sufficiency of wood stands well-nigh foremost.

I may be met with the reply that the singular rapidity of the growth of Australian trees is such as to bring within the scope of each generation all that is required, as far. as wood is concerned; and as a corollary it would follow that each generation should take advantage of the facility thus brought locally within its reach. I can assure this audience that

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 69

enlightened nations abroad do far more than this, and would not rest satisfied with the greater facilities here enjoyed; they provide, with keen forethought and high appreciation of their duty for their followers, that’ beforehand which cannot be called forth at any time at will. If we examine this part of the question more closely, we shall find much to think about — much to act upon. Not even all our Eucalypts are of rapid growth ; they, further, belong to a tribe of trees with a hard kind of wood, which, though so valuable for a multitude -of purposes, cannot supply all that the needs of life daily demand from us for our indus- trial work.

The quick - growing Eucalypts, among which the Blue Gum-tree of this colony and Tasmania stands pre-eminent, are comparatively few in number, nor are these few all of gigantic size. They are, more- over, restricted in their natural occurrence to limited tracts of country, from which they must be estab- lished by the hand of man in other soil for the neces- sities of other communities—for the gratitude of other populations. Then, again, the Pines of foreign lands, often impressing a splendor on their landscapes, must be brought to our shores—to our Alps—with an inten- tion of utilizing every square mile of ground, how- ever unpromising in its sterility ; for, after all, that square mile represents a portion, albeit so small, of the land-surface of the globe. Look at the picture on this wall; see how the Norway Spruce (which gives us so much of our deals and tar) insinuates its massive roots through the fissures of disintegrating rocks, or, failing to penetrate the stony structure, sends its trailing roots over the surfacé and down the

70 FOREST CULTURE AND

sides of the barest rocks until they have found a genial soil, however scanty, on the edge of a preci- pice. Nature —ever active and laborious, ever wise and beneficent ~allows the tree thus to live, thus to convert the solid bowlders finally into soil, and all the time adds unceasingly to the treasures of the domin- ions of man. But just as time, with its measured terms in fleet course, passes irresistably onward and irrevocably away, so also have we to await the ap- proaching* time, which all our wishes cannot accel- erate in its unalterable measure.

“ Onward its course the present keeps, Onward the constant current sweeps, Till life is done ; And did we judge of time aright, The past and future in their flight Would be as one,

Let no one fondly dream again That hope and all her shadow-train Will not decay ; Fleeting as were the dreams of old, Remembered like a tale that’s told ; They pass away.” LonGreLLow (from ‘‘ Manrique’’).

We have, therefore, to await with patience these measured terms before the child in its youthful impet- uosity can reach the age of its highest hopes and sup- posed glory —but, alas! leaving often a far happier phase behind; or before a tree, from its youthful grace, can have advanced to sturdy strength or lofty height, to fulfill also its destiny and offer us its gifts. We cannot call forth age at pleasure; at best there is involved a lapse of years before a timber-tree can yield a plank, a beam, or even as much as a solid post.

IT haye ehdeayored to arrive at some idea of the

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 71

real age of the larger trees, which are sinking daily under our axes, often sacrificed unnecessarily. On this occasion, as an apt one, I may, then, explain that a period of a quarter or even half a century must elapse before a solid plank, hardened by age, can be obtained from even a rapid-growing Eucalyptus-tree. It is estimated to require twenty to twenty-five years before even a sleeper. of Blue Gum-wood can be obtain- ed from a tree planted in ordinary soil; and that double the time will elapse before a sown‘tree of the still more durable Red Gum Eucalyptus will furnish sleepers, such as hitherto have been in use for our railway works. Buta supply of fuel from these trees may be obtained much earlier. Mr. Adam Anderson, a timber merchant of this city, concurs in this esti- mate. :

Yet for forest operations we enjoy here.advantages of two-fold kind, for which in middle Europe we are justly envied. We can disseminate quickly-growing Eucalyptus-trees in the most arid districts; we can add to them, as a first shelter, many of the native Casuarinas and Acacias, and thus gain cover for less hardy trees of other countries. On the other hand, we find in the moist and rich valleys of our ranges a vast extent of space, where, under the mild influence of the clime, sub-tropic trees could be reared million- fold; where, for instance, whole forests of the Red Cedar might be originated. Besides, we do not stand at any disadvantage if we want to raise a belt of sea- coast Pines all along the shores, or if we wish to rear the Norway Spruce, or Silver Fir, or Larch, or Wey- mouth Fir, or the Douglas Pine, or any of the Pitch- pines of North America ; because we can cal] forth, if

72 FOREST CULTURE AND

we like, whole forests of them on sub-alpine heights, never yet thus utilized.

Suppose we reckon that one hundred forest - trees would be required to be planted on an acre, allowing for periodic thinning out ; and assuming that for cli- matic and hygienic considerations, as well as for the maintenance of wood supply, we should require finally one fourth of our Victorian territory kept as a forest- area, we would expect to possess one billion five hun- dred and sixty-eight million trees, and to provide for their timely restoration in proportion to their removal or natural loss.

Most of us are lulled into security by seeing that we receive, as yet, our foreign woods in the course of ordinary traffic, and we are not easily inclined to think that the supply may cease suddenly, or be obtainable only at an exorbitant expense. Even in the United States of America there are places where the price of fuel and timber has already risen fourfold. We are told that recently, in the States of Wisconsin and Michigan alone,,during one single year, two million of Pine-trees were cut for lumber ; and itis estimated that at the present rate of destruction no timber-trees will be left in those States after fifty years, while it will take a century to replace them, if even this be possible. Quebec exported, in 1860, not less than sev- enty million cubic feet of squared or sawn timber, equal to about a million tons of wood —a large share yielded by the Weymouth Pine (Pinus strobus)—not taking into account the current local consumption. This tree, yielding the white American Pine-wood; requires fully sixty years of growth before it can be- sawn into timber of any good size. During the first

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 73

two years of the recent civil war in North America, twenty-eight thousand Walnut - trees were felled to supply one single European factory with the material for gun-stocks, demanded for this fratricidal war. Is it not right to reflect timely on the vast extensions of railroads, manufactures, mines, ship- building, dwell- ings, and so forth, and then to ask, Where is the wood-supply to come from? The requirements in this direction must necessarily rise with the increase of the population and the augmented refinements of civilization, yet the area of supply we see constantly decreasing. The loss on wheat crops during four of the more recent years in the State of Michigan alone, for want of shelter against cutting winds, was esti- mated at £5,000,000, and this is regarded as the mere sequence of the removal of the forests, and not trace- able to exhaustive culture. Cereal crops and vines were destroyed in many parts of South Europe, also, through the complete want of shelter.

** More bleak to view the hills at length recede, And less luxuriant, smoother vales extend; Immense horizon-bounded plains succeed—

Far as the eye discerns, without an end." BYRon.

The Commissioner of the Land Office of the Unit- ed States (Report for 1868) considers the Live Oak (Quercus virens) — one of the best for ship-building— nearly exterminated for all practical purposes, at least as far as native forests are concerned ; while the Wal- nut timber of North America, so much prized for cabi- net-work, has well-nigh shared the same fate. The transit of Walnut - wood from Missouri to New York renders it already nearly as expensive as Mahogany, whereas the latter has become likewise in West India

74 FOREST CULTURE AND

and Central America an article of great scarcity, and, therefore, this important tree should be copiously planted in the forests of tropical Australia. In the earlier part of this century the supply of Saul timber of Lower India (Shorea robusta) was thought inex- haustible; but now, already, this heavy and durable wood is hardly any longer procurable for ship-build- ing. and engineering work, for which it is so much sought. The axes of the woodmen will alsosoon make such an inroad into the comparatively limited Yarrah forests of West Australia that also this timber, which for salt-water works is almost incomparable, will cease to be available long before a new and sufficient supply can be raised by regular culture.

The Land Commissioner of the United States fur- ther reports, in 1868, that the frequent excessive droughts, and the occasional destructive inundations experienced a quarter of a century ago in Iowa, Kan- sas, and Nebraska, have much diminished since the regular settlement brought tree plantations and other cultures into the extensive treeless prairies. Iowa planted, in 1867, about seventy-six square miles of forest, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty four miles length of hedges. On the other hand, it is estimated already, in 1864, by Mr. P. T. Thomas, of New York, that the whole regions east of the Missis- sippi would be stripped of all really useful timber with- in twenty or thirty years ; while even for fuel great inroads are constantly made into the American for- ests, coal not being every where accessible in the States. The Hon. T. M. Edmonds (Report of the Department of Agriculture of U. S. for 1868) foresees the exhaus- tion of the timber resources of the United States in

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 75

half a century, under existing circumstances, whereas by that time the demand will be quadrupled. Mr. Simmonds calculates the importation of wood into France during 1865 at 154,000,000 francs, or about £6,000,000, the ratio of import being at an increase, notwithstanding that-the forest area of that empire was reduced, within a century, to one half—namely, from one third, in the latter part of the last century— to hardly more than onesixth now. But if the popu- lation of Middle Europe consumed proportionately as much native wood as the inhabitants of the United States, then, in less: than half a century, no forest whatever would be left in Europe. These conclu- sions are borne out by the U. S. Commissioner of Lands, the Hon. Jos. 8. Wilson. In the States east of the Mississippi, six billion cubic feet of wood were consumed for timber and fuel in 1860, at a time when no war laid hand on the forests. Hence,‘one million of acres of forest-land must be cleared, in the Eastern States of the Union, to find the wood for a years’ local requirements. Theshipment of lumber, in one of the latter years, from Chicago, was one billion four hun- dred million cubic feet, besides two hundred and sev- teen million laths, and nine hundred and twenty-eight million shingles. In 1866, the products of the Cali- fornia lumber trade were one hundred and ninety million of cubic feet, and thirty-eight million shingles ; in 1867, about two hundred million cubic feet. Que- bec exports about one million of cubic feet since a long period, annually, irrespective of home consumption. In the Pacific States exists only a supply adequate to the prospective wants of their people. The States west of the Mississippi import already timber that

"6 FOREST CULTURE AND

formerly existed in their own native forests. Like- wise so in North America an enormous lot of trees is destroyed by girdling and subsequent burning, for clearing agricultural lands or pastoralruns. Thus, in the earlier part of the next century, every natural for- est east of the Mississippi will have disappeared, if, with an increasing population, the same rate of con- sumption isgoingon. For the States west of the great river, in which forest-land is much less extensive, the prospects are still more alarming. Hence, Australia cannot indifferently look forward for soft-wood from these places.

To givesome idea how long a time will elapse before -actual timber, not merely firewood, is obtained from planted trees, I subjoin a brief list of the more com- mon Middle European forest trees, together with notes of their age when eligible for various titaber purposes :

Beech eis sertesiv sas isaiee aliiele eee aioe wa ww vanwes 60-110 years. Hormbedhssise veges snes vive peww sows woes. 0008 0g0e. 702200 * Oak .... 1... aise nanee akan we eeee ceeen ee 70-120 Alder ........ ee Tovar Ne --. 30-80 ‘ BIPch sce. cameras Ware SiS AS sk acaiaiaia 40-70 < Silver Fir.... 0... .... eee isin diate deoeseaapaeha tee NN 60-150‘ Norway Spruce....... Ua sane SS wdieewwae coon eos OOH150 Scotch Fir....... UAGRid GEREABT Same aad aandimannsdOcGO Da Chess: paitiivscesaciwasasnesntieca aetiaesseaneeDORO

That, however, in our Winterless zone, such of these trees as will endure a warmer clime would advance with more quickness to maturity must be

*It should be remembered that most of our forest ranges are naturally devoid of Pine-wood, only one species of Oallitris occurring in a few limited mountain districts, while our second Callitris is a desert species. Without coniferous trees of our own we shall finally experience difficulty of obtain- ing the required supply of deals, pitch, turpentine, and pine-resin. Doubt- less, for many wood-structureg now iron is substituted, but even a ship or a house cannot be built entirely of iron, and the very production of the iron is dependent on fuel. In the absence of coal, the use of iron, involving here an expenditure for heavy freight, must necessarily be limited.

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 77

readily manifest. The accurate Customs returns for the last year show an importation of foreign woods to the value of £223,769 ; there was scarcely any export. This very month the imported building-wood sent to Sandhurst alone has cost £58,000. Some countries have not been altogether unmindful of the conserva- tion of their forests. Germany, already much devas- tated at the time of the Romans, received its first for- est laws as far back as the reign of Charlemagne — indeed, with the commencement of agriculture and the settling of the nomadic hunter on fixed habita- tions. The forests thus discontinued to be common property, and in the fourteenth century commenced already a forest economy. Full legislation, regular management and actual cultivation of trees on an extensive scale, date back one hundred and fifty years. Venice formed its forest laws alfeady in the fifteenth century. Although the desire for ample hunting-territory gave a great impulse to the restric- tions placed on the encroachment of the Middle Eu- ropean forests, this at the same time saved them to the country.

Within the operations of wood culture may also be included that of subduing drift-sand, and solidifying the latter finally by plantations. For this purpose can be chosen the Haleppo Pine, Cluster Pine, Scotch Fir, or our own less arboreous so-called seashore Tea-trees (Melaleuca parviflora and Leptospermum levigatum), further the drooping She-oak (Casuarina quadrivalvis), the coast Honeysuckle (Banksia integrifolia), and also our desert cypress, or so-called Murray Pine. As not only in close vicinity to our fine city one wilderness of shifting sand exists, but as also in other places of

78 FOREST CULTURE AND

our shores the sand is invading villages, towns, and, perhaps, harbors, and as, moreover, many a desert spot inland may be reclaimed, I would remark that, to arrest the waves of the sand, some wickerwork or cover of brush is needed on the storm side. Large seaweeds help to form such covering. Sods of Me- sembryanthemum, to which the unpoetic name of ‘¢ Pigfaces’’ is here given, and which abounds on our coast, should copiously be scattered over the sand- ridges; wild cabbage, celery, sea-kale, samphire, New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia), chamomile, and various clovers and bloom plants should be sown, and creep- ing sand-grass (Festuca litoralis, Triticum junceum, Buffalo-grass, Agrostis stolonifera), etc., should be planted, particulary, also, sand-sedges and sand-rush- es, among the best of which are Carex arenaria, and here the Sword Rush (Lepidosperma gladiatum ). Psoralea pinnata and Rhus typhinum, Prunus mari- tima (the Canadian sea-coast plum), Ailanthus gland- ulosa, proved also valuable in this respect. As eligi- ble, I may add, also, the native couch-grass (Cynodon Dactylon), the South African Ehrharta gigantea, the European Psamma arenaria, Elymus arenarius (or Lyme), even the Live-oak (Quercus virens) ; as also another American Oak (Quercus obtusiloba), and the Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris), and, perhaps, Poplars, some Willows, and, among firs, the Pinus insignis, Pinus edulis, P. rigida, and P. Australis. The com- mon Brake Fern helps also much to conquer the sand. The New Zealand flax covers coast - sand naturally, within the very exposure of the spray.* It is need-

* Dr. Jam. Hector calculated that in New Zealand an acre of good flax land contained about one hundred thousand leaves of the Phormium tenax, and yields about ten tons weight of dried leaves; or, if only the outer leaves are taken, four tons. The yield of clean fiber is about twenty-three one hundredths of the green leaf,

EUCALYPTUS TREES. "9

less to remark that exclusion of traffic from the sand is imperative, as also security against ingress of goats and domestic animals of any kind, otherwise the ef- fort is hopeless. Fencing of the area and stringent municipal laws will make, however, any operations of this kind, even without great expense, a success, as, in consequences of my advice, has- been shown at Queenscliff. Wood -culture on drift - sand carries with it also the recommendation of providing the needful belt of shelter which each coast should pos- sess. There are a few other Pines—for instance, Pi- nus Taeda, the Loblolly Pine of North America, and several other trees which grow fast in sand, whenever it is no longer moving ; they endure the sea-storms, gradually consolidate the soil, and render it, in course of time, arable. In South Africa, some Protee and Leucospermums, the Virgilia, also Myrica, grow in coast-sand. All these planting operations must be performed very early, and in the cool season. The grasses and herbs must precede the pines and other trees. Technic industries will gain from these pines in due time. ;

I now beg to offer some brief data in reference to the present consumption of wood in Victoria.

After the perusal of various official returns, Iam inclined to assume that twenty tons would be a fair average of the quantity of fuel consumed in each household. This would amount to rather more than three millions of tons of wood as the present annual requirement of domestic fuel in this colony. In the city and suburbs the consumption is considerably less than in the farming districts, on account of the use of coal. In reference to the return of mining- wood,

80 FOREST CULTURE AND

quoted on this occasion, a large allowance must yet be made for the enormous mass of wood from the felled trees, which is left unutilized in the ranges, the dis- tance, in many cases, being too great to convey the

off-fall of the timber for the purpose of fuel.

The fol-

lowing data convey some information on the annual

consumption ef wood in various districts :

Ararat (under license). ......... 2... ee cece eee eee “« (without “ ) .......... ieowene baa a kee Blackwood Mining Division..................0000 Bunn yous sas ..0s-eicnrsens a orvarns veeswedera teed Colac (for saw-mills, 6,000 tons ; posts and rails, 6,000 tons ; shingles, 2,000 tons ; fuel, 30,000 tons). ... Creswick (sawn timber for Clunes, 15,000 tons ; sawn timber for Amherst, 2,000 tons ; sawn timber for Creswick, 2,500 tons; fuel for Clunes, 30,000

tons ; fuel for Creswick, 20,000 tons)........... Castlemaine. siscc.ccocsis a istescacuadiiuetemacnee rede aaane a ad Castértoni«'s 5 s:2<08.46 ses aoetinns we neeee Shuwewe eae ds Daylesford (mining timber, 20,000 tons ; fuel, 50,000 LONE) Sacschtlocove.. sinus) HA, bale else es blalelac nds tahoe les

Dunkeld—sawn iaitber, 800,000 feet; rails, 20,000 pieces ; Red Gum posts, 10,000 pieces.

Granite secs he 4d Ses wees Miia dates desinlas ou daira ohm auMeres Mary borough) siisisusisdescenes sc avadedwie cs seccee eis Nunawading (cut under license).......,.....00e.008 fe ( “ without “ )....... cisiawvadals erie 4% Sandhurst). acag tcc cages aohosaawmceeioseiy ( Another informant aires the approximate quan- tity used solely for fuel at 160,000 tons. )

SGA MANG foie wick oe wie vie Ses ysein Mivaeunentewmenio eve ee Talbot (Shire of) and Borough of Amherst—Domestic fuel for 2,887 houses, at 6 cords or 19 1-5 tons, 55,430 tons ; mining timber, 18,368 tons; mills, 3,200 tons ; charcoal, 3,328 tons ; public institu- tions, 2,560 tons ; bakers, etc., 1,600 tons ; fenc-

ing and building, 6,400 tons.......... ee tieienae ny

Tons. 13,146 13,146 12,000 40,000

44,000

90,886

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 81

Taradale (two sevenths for mining and five sevenths

for UCL) o sieiiaiesie'e's vs e sleiste iat grsieinigseierece namiose eis gaa 8,750 Parnag all asic ins hc cg ss ee ease edSa Heme aeisie 20,000 to 30,000 Tylden (for fuel, 3,890 tons; saw-mills, 15,500 tons ;

for splitter’s use, 2,476 tons)..........eeeeeeees 21,466 Villiers, County of (approximately)........... Sener 150,000

Whittlesea—As much as 1,800 trees are annually “ised

for palings, shingles, etc. Winchelsea inc ene edie edi ace cre nus owes aae ada te 28,600 Wood's Polmticco:.iscccaeddcncseeas zane cae iE as's 8,700 Woodend (for firewood and split or squared timber cut

under license, wholly exclusive of that used by

BA W=MILULS). sis: ceardiac.ows sanwenawcaaweudeeaeeeees 43,181

On the modes of raising or renovating forests, not much can be said on this occasion. For natural up- growth, perfect clearing and fencing is recommend- able. Subsequently, the removal of young, crooked trees and the surplus of saplings is needed. Seed- lings may be transferred from spots where they stand too densely, to more open or bare places. Suckers should be destroyed where the gain of good timber is an object. Periodic clearing of young trees is effect- ed according to the rate of growth of the particular species ; lopping of branches is advisable should they densely meet. For broadcast sowing, the ground should be completely cleared and burnt. By break- ing the ground a great acceleration of growth of the trees is attained, even to a tenfold degree. Planting in rows affords the best access for subsequent thinning and successive removal of the timber; the Quincunx system will give approach in three directions. Pines | are planted in Germany only about seven feet apart, as they require least rooni of all trees; but fifteen feet is a fair distance at an age of forty years. The New Hampshire Pine stands only five or six feet apart at

82 FOREST CULTURE AND

an age of fifty years, and yet is not prevented by this crowded growth to be then one hundred feet high ; the stems are then very straight, eighteen inches in diameter at the base. If Pines and Oaks are promis- cuously planted, then the former, which act as nurse- trees, are moved in ten or twenty years, and the ground is left to the Oak, or any other deciduous tree, at distances at first ten or twelve feet apart, and subsequently wider still. No decayed wood is left in planted forests, as it would harbor boring insects. Pines are considered not to increase much in value after eighty years, when most of them have attain- ed full maturity, and grow only afterward slowly. Sometimes as many as one thousand two hundred Pine-trees are set out on an acre, with a view of early utilization of a portion of the young trees. The rate of growth may be much accelerated in most trees by irrigation ; hence mountain streamlets should be diverted into horizontal ditches where forests are occupying hill-sides. The best-cultivated forests of Germany are worth from three to five times as much as native woods.

For shelter plantations, intended to yield ultimate- ly also timber and fuel to farming populations, it is recommendable to adopt the American method, ac- cording to which belts of trees are regularly planted at about quarter-mile distance ; the belts, according to circumstances, to be from four to ten rods wide, and to be formed in such direction as to front the pre- vailing winds. These timber-belts are usually fenc- ed. Such shelter-trees are likely to rise to thirty feet in ten years, and have proved so advantageous as to double the farm crop, while judicious managey

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 83

ment of these tree-belts will supply the wood neces- sary for the farm. There are one million and four hundred thousand square miles of treeless plains in the United States, which, in due course of time, will necessarily be converted, to a great extent, into agri- cultural areas on account of the generally excellent soil. The Locust-tree is much chosen for shelter pur- poses. Denuded wood-land, of poor soil, left undis- turbed to natural renovation, has become, in some populous localities, five times as valuable as the ad- joining inferior tillage or pasture-land. For the great- est profit in fuel, the trees, in some parts of North America, are cut about every sixteen years. We here, commanding Eucalypts, Acacias, and Casuari- nas, would gain wood- harvests still speedier. The increased value of less fertile lands, through sponta- neous upgrowth of timber, is estimated at sixteen hundredths of simple interest annually in woodless localities, no labor being expended on this method of wood-culture. Judicious management in thinning out enhances the value of such forest land still more. Wet and undrained grounds can be made to yield a return in Elms, Willows, Cottonwood, Swamp Cy- presses, and other swamp trees, or stony declivities in Pines and Eucalypts, at a trifling cost. For details, the forest literature, which is in Germany particularly rich, should be studied. Capitalists would likely find it safer and more profitable to secure land for timber- growth than to invest in many another speculation. After the example set at Massachusetts our agricul- tural societies might award premiums and medals for the best timber-plantations raised in their districts. We haye societies for the protection of domestic ani-

84 FOREST CULTURE AND

mals, native or introduced birds, young fish, ete.; why could not a strong and widely-spreading league be organized for the saving of the native forests ? Might not every child in a school plant a memorial tree, to be intrusted to its care, to awaken thus an interest in objects of this kind at an early age ?

Reverting to the importance of shelter, let me remark that fifty years ago the Peach flourished in North Pennsylvania, in Ohio and New York, where it cannot any longer now be grown, in consequence of the now colder and far more changeable climate, after the forests became extensively removed. Even ordinary orchards and cereal fields suffer there now. Yet, poor land will yield a better return in wood than in corn crops, and it is not too much to say that the favorable effect of a young forest on climate may be felt already, after a dozen years. Even on ordinary sheep-runs, trees are of the greatest importance, both for shelter and shade,

Having endeavored to explain forest value as it pre- sents itself in its primary aspects — namely, in refer- ence to its importance to Nature’s great economy, and in reference to its timber resources, as viewed in the abstract-—-I now proceed to enter on a new field of consideration, which, though secondary in impor- tance, is well deserving of our calm attention ; and this all the more since this field of industrial enter- prise remained yet almost bare or unharvested, where- as any utilization of this new ground must have, to inquiring minds, more than ordinary charm.

I therefore now proceed to explain some of the technologic features of woodlands.

A leading industry in all forests is the production

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 85

of charcoal. It may be made in mounds, caverns, or ovens. The method most frequently adopted is that in mounds or meilers, and to this I may devote a few explanatory words, as not every one in this hall may be conversant with the process; for, simple as the process does appear, it is, after all, not performable without some skill, if coal of a superior quality is to be the result. The wood is closely packed around a central post in regular form, the pieces either all hor- izontally, or, oftener, the lower vertically. Only such wood should be used as is unfit for timber; it must, however, be of one kind only, or of such various sorts as require the same degree of heat for being converted into a perfect coal. It must be sound and almost air- dry. A loamy sand-soil’ forms the best base for a mound ; and this soil requires to be broken up, lev- eled and pressed, also dried by branchlets being burnt on the ground. The form of the mound or meiler is usually hemispherical, and support is given to this mound in the manner indicated in the sketch here presented, the outer support consisting of short logs of wood.

The inner part of the cover is formed of sods of grass, branchlets, rushes, and similar substances; over this is placed the outer portion of the cover, consist- ing of moist forest-soil, particularly fresh humus. The united covering must permit the vapors of the glowing meiler to escape. Shelter against wind is absolutely requisite ; the operation of burning coal can therefore be well performed only in still air. The ignition commences from an opening left purposely, either at the base or, less frequently, at the summit of the structure, but either opening is closed again

*K

86 FOREST CULTURE AND

during the burning process. Caution is needed to prevent the expansive vapors and gases causing ex- plosions during the glowing of the wood. To pro- moote combustion on places where it may have been suppressed, holes are forced through the covering on the second or third day, particularly on the lee side.

A bursting forth of gases of a blueish hue indicates active burning, and under such circumstances the access given tothe air must be closed, while new per- forations are made in any yet inactive portion of the meiler.

Over-great activity of fire is suppressed by water applied to the covering, or by adding to the thickness of the latter. Strong sinking of the cover during the earlier burning proves more or less complete combus- tion of the coal, and it may then become necessary to refill hurriedly the holes with wood or coal, under- closure of all openings, and careful restoration of the cover thus temporarily removed on one spot. This refilling in large meilers may be required for five days in succession ; but the more carefully the mound has been built, and the more watchfully the early glow- ing process has been conducted, the less necessity will arise for the troublesome and wasteful process of re- filling. A final additional covering becomes frequent- ly needful. The operation closes by the sinking of the cover, or by its being partially forced downward, and the ready coals are removable one day afterward. Partial withdrawals of coal can be effected from the lee side while the meiler is still active.

The specific gravity of charcoal stands generally in aprecise proportion to the specific weight of the wood employed. Dryer wood realizes a heavier, moister

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 87

wood a lighter coal. Slow combustion also renders the coal heavier than a more rapid burning process, because in the latter case more carbon is consumed for various volatile products formed from the wood. As a rule, the quantity of coal obtained is about a quager of the weight of wood employed. Good coal has a slight metallic lustre, is firm, not friable, caus- ing a clear sound when thrown on the ground. It must burn without flame and smoke. For trade pur- poses coal must be kept dry, as its absorption of hu- midity is considerable.* The heating power of coal as compared to wood is ascertained to be as one hun- dred to fifty-five or sixty. An equal Volumen of wood produces less heating effect than the same space of coal. For technic operations the equable and more lasting heat, and the great power of radiation, give to charcoal its special value. Igniting wood for char- coal in caverns is wasteful, through the great access of air.

By the method of carbonizing wood in ovens, tar and other volatile products can be secured. The wood chosen for coal intended for gunpowder is chiefly that of Willows, Poplars, Alder, and Lime. It must be healthy, and is preferred from young trees. Woods which contain a good deal of hygroscopic salts—such as that of Elms, Firs, Oaks—are not adapted for the purpose. Extreme degrees of heat in producing coal for gunpowder or blasting powder should be avoided, otherwise the best wood will not serve the purpose, because the powder would be less ready to ignite. The yield of this coal is sixteen to seventeen one

z *For extensive details consult von Berg’s Anleitung zum Verkohlen ; also, Muspratt’s Chemistry.

88 FOREST CULTURE AND

hundredths from the wood. Local powder-mills are sure to be established here, especially as sulphur is readily obtainable from New Zealand. The increase of manufactures is also certain to augment the de- -- mand for wood and coal hereafter. For many indus- trial purposes charcoal is far preferable to fossilgpal. Coals from various kinds of Victorian wood are placed before you.

It was my intention, while explaining the industrial resources of the forest, to show also how tar, vinegar and spirits might be obtained by heating wood in close vessels, at a temperature of three hundred to three hundred and fifty centigr., under a process call- ed dry distillation. But I must reserve this subject for another occasion; for, however simple the proced- ure may be regarded, as far as the actual performance of this artisan’s work is concerned, yet the-chemic processes, which are active in this form of decomposi- tion, are of the greatest complexity; they present, moreover, according to the wood employed and ac- cording to the degree of heat applied, some peculiar- ities, which as yet have not been fully investigated, holding out hope for the discovery of some new dyes and other educts. It will be scarcely credited by most of this audience that the paraffin, which now large- ly enters into the material for the candles of our house- holds, is not only obtainable from bituminous slates, turf and fossil coal, but is also produced by the heat- ing of wood under exclusion of air. This substance is furthermore a hydrocarbon of great purity ; and its cheap preparation, along with other substances from our native wood, may possibly become a local source of immense wealth. For obtaining information on the

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 89

products from heated wood, and the various appa- ratus employed in dry distillation, reference may be made to the great work, Chemistry Applied to Arts and Manufactures, by Professor Muspratt, a man of genius and industry, whose death within the last few months we had so deeply to deplore.

Presented to you here are samples of tar, acetic acid, and alcohol, from several of our more common woods ; also pieces of pine-wood, coated with euca- lyptus tar, the black color, with its fine lustre, have remained unimpaired fora series of years. Our wood- tar would, for many industrial purposes, be equal in value to the best kinds of other tar, and may prove, in some respects, superior to them.

Among the undeveloped wood-resources we must not pass that referring to potash, particularly as this alkali can be obtained without sacrifice of any valua- ble timber, and from localities not accessible to the wood trade.

For the preparation of potash, the wood, bark, branches, and foliage are burnt in pits sunk three or four feet in the ground ; the incineration is continued till the pit isalmost filled with ashes. Young branch- es and leaves are usually much richer in potash than the stem-wood ; hence they should not be rejected. The ashes thus obtained are placed, in tubs or casks, on straw, over a false bottom.

Cold water, in moderate quantities, is poured over the ash, and the first strong potash-liquid removed for evaporation in flat iron vessels, while the weaker fluid is used for the lixiviation of fresh ashes.

While the evaporation proceeds, fresh portions of strong liquid are added until the concentrated boil- ing fluid assumes a rather thick consistence, i

90 FOREST CULTURE AND

At last, with mild heat and final constant stirring, the whole is evaporated to dryness. This dry mass represents crude potash more or less impure, accord- ing to the nature of the wood employed.

A final heating in rough furnaces is needed, to ex- pel sulphur combinations, water, and empyreumatic substances; also, to decompose coloring principles. Thus pearlash is obtained.

Pure carbonate of potassa in crude potash varies from forty to eighty per cent. Experiments, as far as they were instituted in my laboratory, have given the following approximate result with respect to the contents of potash in some of our most common trees. The wood of our She-oaks (Casuarina suberosa and Casuarina quadrivalvis), as well as that of the Black or Silver Wattle (Acacia decurrens), is somewhat rich- er than wood of the British Oak, but far richer than the ordinary Pine woods.

The stems of the Victorian Blue Gum-tree (Euca- lyptus globulus), and the so-called swamp Tea- tree (Melaleuca ericifolia), yield about as much Potash as European Beech.

The foliage of the Blue Gum-tree proved particu- larly rich in this alkali; and as it is heavy and easily collected at the saw-mills, it might be turned there to auxiliary profitable account, and, indeed, in many other spots of the ranges.

A ton of the fresh leaves and branches yielded, in two analyses, four and three quarters pounds of pure potash, equal to about double the quantity of the av- erage kinds of pearlash. The three species of Euca- lypts spontaneously occurring closearound Melbourne —the Red Gum-tree (Eucalyptus rostrata) ; the Man-

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 91

na Gum-tree (Eucalyptus viminalis) ; the Box Gum- tree (Eucalyptus melliodora) produced nearly three pounds of pure potash, or about five pounds of pearl- ash from a ton of fresh leaves and branches ; while a ton of the wood of the Red Gum-tree, in a dried state, gave nearly two pounds weight of pure carbonate of potassa, whereas the wood of the Blue Gum-tree proved still richer. A ton of the dry wood of the erect She-oak (Casuarina suberosa) furnished the large quantity of six and one half pounds of pure potash. This result is about equal to that obtainable from the European Lime-tree or Linden-tree, which again is one of the richest of all European trees in this respect.

Such indications may suffice to draw more fully the attention of forest settlers to an important but as yet latent branch of industry. For further details I refer to elaborate tables of the yield of potash in native trees, as the result from analyses made under my direction by Mr. Chr. Hoffmann — these tabulated statements being appended to my departmental re- port, presented to Parliament in 1869. The whole- sale price of the best pearlash is about £8 for the cwt. in Melbourne. _

I wish it distinctly to be understood that I do not advocate an indiscriminate sacrifice of our forest-trees for any solitary one of its products, such as the pot- ash; because by any such procedure we would still more accelerate the reduction of our woods. On the contrary, good timber, fit for splitting or for the saw- mill, ought to be far too precious for potash or tar preparation. But branch-wood, bark, roots, crooked stems, and even foliage, might well be utilized for — this industry, wherever the place is too remote to dis-

92 FOREST CULTURE ‘AND

pose of this material for fuel. The recommendation carries with it still more weight, if we remember how on many places the close growth of suckers or seed- lings has to be thinned to allow of space for the new

‘ and unimpaired upgrowth of actual timber ; whereas, moreover, now the remnants at places where trees have been felled, often block by impenetrable barri- cades the accessible lines of traffic through the forests, and are frequently the cause of the extensive confla- grations of the woods, by placing so much combus- tible, dry, and mostly oily material within the easy reach of the current of flames. Should, unfortunately, the fiery element have anywhere swept through the forest, it may then prove advantageous to collect the fresh ashes before they are soaked by rain, with the object of extracting thus large quantities of potash. The whole process of potash preparation being one of the simplest kind, and involving only a very trifling expense in casks and boiling-pans, can be carried out anywhere as a by-work, the profit thus being not reduced by skilled or heavy labor or by costly plant. The demand for potash must always be considerable, as it is required for the factories of niter (particularly from soda saltpeter), one of the three principal in- gredients of gunpowder and blasting-powder ; it is needed also for glass, alum, various kinds of soaps, dyes, and many chemicals.*

Potash, although universally distributed, is best obtained in the manner indicated. JI may remark, however, though deviating from my subject, that it is one of the most potent constituents in all manures,

* Flint-glass contains about a fifth pure pearlash ; crown-glass, the best window-glass, rather more than a quarter. Some potash-niter is wanted also in either case.

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 93

being especially needed in the soil for all kinds of root- crops, for vine and maize; nor can most other plants live without it altogether, although the quantity re- quired may be small; but I must add, for manuring, potash by itself would be far too valuable.

Almost every kind of forage affords potash salts, these being among the necessaries for the support of herbivorous animals. Their undue diminution in food is the cause of various diseases, both in the animal and vegetable world; or predisposes, by abnormal chemic components of the organisms, to disease.

The muscles of the human structure require a com- paratively large proportion of carbonate of potassa ; it is also absolutely required in blood, predominating in the red corpuscles. Plants grown in soil of rocks con- taining much feldspar—such as granite, gneiss, syen- ite, some porphyries, diorite—are always particularly productive in potash, potassium entering largely into felspatic compounds, The latter mineral yields, in most cases, from twelve to fourteen per cent. of po- tassa, which, if changed to carbonate, would become augmented by nearly one half more. It is fixed chiefly to silicic acid in feldspar, and thus only tardily set free through disintegration, partly by the chemic action of air, water, and various salts, partly through the mechanic force of vegetation.* The importation of potash into Victoria during 1870 was only one hun- dred and seventy tons, but, with the increase of chemic factories, we shall require much more.

It has justly been argued that the chemic analysis affords a very unsafe guidance to the artisan, as re- gards the quantity of potash obtainable from any kind

* The proverb of chemistry — ‘‘ Corpora non agunt, nist fluida”’ — ip here ajso applicable, .

94 FOREST CULTURE AND

of tree or other plant, inasmuch as necessarily the per- centage must fluctuate according to the nature of the soil, this, again, depending on geologic structure and the quality and quantity of decaying foliage on any particular spot. It should, however, not be quite for- gotten that most plants have a predilection for that soil which contains, in regions otherwise favorable to them, also due proportions of such mineral particles as are essentially necessary for the normal nutrition of the peculiar species ; for, otherwise, in the wild com- bat for space it would succumb or cede before the more legitimate occupant of such soil. Hence, at a glance, even from long distances, we may recognize in many of our forest regions an almost abrupt line of demarcation between the gregarious trees, where one geologic formation meets or replaces the other. Thus, trees richer in potash, or oils, or any other product, may often be traced with ease over their geologic area, for which purpose the admirable maps of Mr. Selwyn and his collaborators afford us here in Victoria also in this respect already so very much facility.

I have often been led to think that many an indi- gent person might find employment by collecting the wood-ashes, which, as a powerful manure, or as ma- terial for a local potash-factory, ought to realize a fair price. Such an employment would be probably as lucrative as collecting glass, or bones, or substances for paper-mills, while the ashes, now largely wasted, would be fully utilized.

It may be assumed that, at an average, the ash of our ordinary. Eucalypts contains ten per cent. of crude potash, equal to about five per cent, pure potash, A

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 95

bucketful of wood-ash, such as we daily remove from our domestic fire-places, contains about twenty-five pounds, from which, accordingly, about two and one half pounds of inferior, or one and one fourth pounds of superior potash, may be obtained; the former being worth about sixpence per pound, the latter double the price. For ascertaining the contents of carbonate of potassa in crude potash or pearlash, cer- tain instruments, well known as alkali- meters, are constructed. The heaviest ashes, as a rule, contain the greatest proportion of potash. The brake-fern, so common on many river-banks and sandy tracts of the country, is rich in this alkali.

Apart from my subject, I may, however, say that there are other sources of potash-salts than trees alone. Chloride of potassium is obtained from some large salt-beds, for instance, in Prussia. From this source it was supplied to British manufactories, in 1869, to the extent of one hundred and fifty-four thousand four hundred and sixty-eight hundred weight, valued at above £60,000. This chloride is besides obtained, under Mons. Balard’s process (Report of Juries at the Inter. national Exhibition for 1862), in considerable quanti- ties from sea-water, as one of the contents to be util- ized. From this chloride the various potash salts, otherwise largely obtained from pearlash, can be also prepared. Chlorides and sulphates, if they occur in crude potash, can, in the process of purification, almost completely be removed through crystallization from the greatly concentrated solution.

Let us now approach another forest industry, one quite unique and peculiar to Australia—namely, the distillation of volatile oi] from Eucalyptus and allied

96 FOREST CULTURE AND

Myrtaceous trees, While charcoal, tar, wood-vinegar, wood-spirit, tannic substances and potash, are obtain- able and obtained. from the woods of any country, we have in Australia a resource of our own in the Euca- lyptus oil. In no other part of the globe do we find the Myrtacese to prevail; in Europe it is only the Myrtus of the ancients, the beautiful bush for bridal wreaths, which there represents this particular family of plants; and although copious species of Eugenia and other berry-bearing genera, including the aro- matic clove and allspice, are scattered through the warmer regions of Asia, Africa, and America, all per- vaded by essential oil, they do not constitute the main bulk of any forests as here, nor can their oil in chemic or technic properties be compared to that of the almost exclusively Australian Eucalyptus. This special industry of ours exemplifies also, in a manner quite remarkable, how from apparently insignificant experiments may arise results far beyond original an- ticipations, When, in 1854, as one of the commis- sioners for the Victorian Industrial Exhibition, held in anticipation of the first Paris Exhibition, I induced my friend, Mr. Joseph Bosisto, J. P., to distil the oil of one of our Eucalypts, I merely wished to show that this particular oil might be substituted for the com- paratively costly oil of cajuput, obtained in some parts of India, and rather extensively used in some countries for medical purposes. For the exhibition of 1862 about thirty different oils were prepared by the same gentleman, chiefly from various Eucalypts, | and from material mostly selected by myself for the purpose. This led not merely to determining the “percentage of yield, but also to extensive experi»

RUCALYPTUS TREES. 97

iments, here chiefly by Messrs. Bosisto and Osborne, and in London by Dr. Gladstone, in reference to the illuminating power, the solvent properties, and other special qualities of each of these oils. The principal results of these experiments were recorded in reports of the exhibition jurors at the time. Mr. Bosisto, with great sagacity and a commendable perseverance, but also at first with much sacrifice of capital, carried his researches so far as to give to them great utilita- rian value and mercantile dimensions ; moreover, he patented a process by which he was enabled to derive from the eucalyptus foliage the greatest amount of the purest essential oil with the least consumption of fuel and application of labor. Under this process it became possible to produce the oil at a price so cheap as to allow the article to be used in various branches of art—for instance, in the manufacture of scented soap, it having been ascertained that this oil sur- passed any other in value for diluting the oils of roses, of orange flowers, and other very costly oils, for which purposes it proved far more valuable than the oil of rosemary and other ethereal oils hitherto used. Suddenly, then, such a demand arose that our thoughtful and enterprising fellow-citizen could ex- port already about nine thousand pounds to England and three thousand pounds to foreign ports, though even now this oil is as yet but very imperfectly known abroad. The average quantity now produced at his establishment, for export, is seven hundred pounds per month. Alcoholic extracts of the febrifugal foli- age of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus amygda- lina have also been exported in quantity by the same gentleman to England, Germany, and America

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Similar substances from various melaleucas might be added. Originally, an opinion was entertained that all the eucalyptus oils have great resemblance to each other; such, however, proved not to be the case when it came to accurate experimental tests. Thus, for instance, the oil which in such rich percentage is obtained from Eucalyptus amygdalina, though excel- lent for diluting the most delicate essential oils, is of far less value as a solvent for resins in the fabrication of select varnishes. For this latter purpose the oil of one of the dwarf Eucalypts forming the Mallee Scrub, a species to which I gave, on account of its abundance of oil, the name ‘Eucalyptus oleosa”’ nearly a quarter of a century ago, proved far the best. It is this Mallee oil which now is coming into exten- sive adaptations for dissolving amber, Kauri resin, and various kinds of copal. Mr. Bosisto’s researches are recorded in the volume of the Royal Society of Victoria for 1868; Mr. Osborne’s in the Jurors’ Reports of the Exhibition of 1862. For alluding so far to this oil distillation I have a special object in view. I wish to see it adopted near and far as a col- lateral forest industry, now that the way for the ready sale of this product is so far paved. The patentee is willing to license any person to adopt his process, and he is also ready to purchase the oil at a price which will prove remunerative to the producer. If itis now considered how inexhaustible a material for this oil industry is everywhere accessible in our ranges, how readily it is obtainable, particularly at saw-mills and at splitters’ establishments, and how easily the pro- cess of the distillation can be performed, it would be really surprising should these facilities not be seized

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 99

upon, and should under such favorable circumstances not a far larger export of this mercantile commodity be called forth. Those Eucalypts are the most pro- ductive of oil in their foliage which have the largest number of pellucid dots in their leaves; this is easily ascertained by viewing the leaves by transmitted light, when the transparent oil- glands will become apparent, even without the use of a magnifying lens. Mr. Bosisto is also a purchaser of scented flowers, indigenous as well as cultivated, including even the wattle flowers, for the extraction of delicate scents, under a clever process discovered by himself; and it is astonishing what an enormous demand for these perfumes exists in European markets. This may be a hint to any one living in or near the forests, where the extraction of the scent could be locally accom- plished from unlimited resources, with little trouble and cost.

There exists another special industry in its incip- ient state among us, which might be regarded as essentially Australian, and which also might be wide- ly extended: I mean the gathering of seeds of many kinds of Eucalyptus, and also of some Acacias and Casuarinas, for commercial export... No doubt the col- lecting of seeds ‘is effected among the forest-trees of any country, and very important branches of industry these gatherings are, in very many localities abroad. But what: gives to our own export trade of forest seeds such significance is the fact that we offer thereby means of raising woods with far more celerity and ease than would be possible through dissemination of trees from any other part of the globe, it being under- stood that the operations are instituted in climatic

100 FOREST CULTURE AND

zones similar to our own. Trees with softer kinds of woods, such as Poplars and Willows, even though they may rival some of the Eucalypts in quickness of growth, cannot be well drawn into comparison, as most of them do not live in dry soil, nor attain lon- gevity, nor assume gigantic dimensions, nor furnish timber of durability. But there are still other rea- sons: which have drawn our Eucalypts into extensive cultural use elsewhere — for instance, in Algeria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the south of France, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, various uplands of India, the savan- nahs of North America, the Nanas of South America, at Natal and other places in South Africa, and even as near as New Zealand.* One of the advantages offered is the extraordinary facility and quick- ness with which the seeds are raised, scarcely any care being requisite in nursery works; a seedling, moreover, being within a year, or even less time, fit for final transplantation. ‘Another advantage consists in the ease with which the transit can be effected, in consequence of the minuteness of most kinds of Eucalyptus seeds,} there being, besides, no difficulty in packing on account of the natural dryness of these seeds. For curiosity’s sake I had an ounce of the seed of several species counted, with the following results:—

Blue Gum-tree, one ounce—sifted fertile seed grains.... 10,112

Stringy-bark tree (unsifted) .... 0.0.0... cece eeeee seers 21,080 Swamp Gum-tree (unsifted)...... 0... cee sees cece ees 23,264 Peppermint Eucalypt (unsifted). .... 0... .....e02e002++ 17,600

* The seeds of Eucalyptus rostrata (our Red Gum-tree) are available for all tropic countries, inasmuch as this species, which is almost incomparas bly valuable for its lasting wood, ranges naturally right through the hot zone of Australia,

t The seeds of the West Australian Red Gum-tree (Eucalyptus calophylla) and the East Australian Bloodwood-tree (Eucalyptus corymbosa) are coms paratively large and heavy. :

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 101

According to this calculation we could raise from one pound of seeds of the Blue Gum-tree one hundred and sixty-one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two plants. Let us suppose, for argument’s sake, that only ‘half the seeds of such grew, the number of seedlings would be enormous; and even if only the seedlings of one quarter of the seeds of one pound finally were established, they would suffice, in the instance of the Blue Gum-tree, to cover four hundred and four acres, assuming that we planted at the rate of one hundred trees to the acre (allowing for thinning out). The fol- lowing notes, for comparison, may be of interest:

One ounce of: Contains Grains. Pinus pimaster. .... 0... cece cece cence ce ceee cece cess cece 780 Pinus pinea: seces awes aaes wows sews sees sows view ewe ae ve 33 Pinus halepponsig ......60 cess cece eee ccececte cence. 940 Pints: @lbA sacescs aietwossSecaeew wie hte cee dese sess te0l0,080 Cupressus SCMpervirens .... 6... sees cree eee cece cece eee 4,970 Fraxinus OMMUS. 2.0. .0c0 cee cece cece cece cece cece ceeece S16 Bettilaal bates os wiscecsccie hice Gita an sbi) peiw ae ee" eel 34,560 Acer pseudoplatanus...... ..0. cess cece vee esgueaceexaoals 183

It seems marvellous that trees of such colossal di- mensions, counting among the most gigantic of the globe, should arise from a seed-grain so extremely minute.

The exportation of Eucalyptus-seeds has already as- sumed some magnitude. Our monthly mails conveyed occasionally quantities to the value of over £100; the total export during the past twelve years must have reached several or, perbaps, many thousand pounds sterling. For the initiation of this new resource, by his extensive correspondence abroad, the writer can lay much claim; and he believes that almost any quantity of Eucalyptus-seeds could be sold in markets

102 FOREST CULTURE AND

of London, Paris, Calcutta, San Francisco, Buenos Ayres, Valparaiso and elsewhere, as it will be long before a sufficient local supply can be secured abroad from cultivated trees.

Monsieur Prosper Ramel, of Paris, stands foremost among those who promoted Eucalyptus culture in South Europe.

Facts, such as just alluded to, may give an idea with what ease the Eucalyptus can be disseminated over extensive areas. Although the first cost of seeds, or the facilities for their transit, preservation, and germination, can only enter to a small extent into consideration, when an object so important as that of raising or restoring forests is to be attained, yet the data thus far given in reference to some of the best Eucalypts cannot but tend toward encouragement of culture here and abroad. Indeed, among nearly all the trees of the globe, most of our Eucalypts, together with species of the allied genera — tristania, ango- phora, melaleuca and metrosideros — produce seeds the most minute and the most copious. The seeds of the Birches, and of most species of ficus are, however, also remarkably light and numerous.

Atsaw-mills and splitters’ establishments, the gath- ering of seeds, particularly through the aid of chil- dren, might be carried on most conveniently and most inexpensively, the sums realized therefrom being clear gain. The same may be said of collecting the abun- dant gum-resins of various Eucalypts, which, for medicinal and technologie purposes, are now in much demand for export. Purchasers in the city offer about one shilling per pound. The liquid (very astringent) exudations of the Eucalypts are also salable. The

BUCALYPTUS TREES. 108

precise quantity of tannic substance to be obtained from saplings and foliage of various Eucalgpts, acacice and casuarine remains yet unascertained ; but it is likely large enough to base on their yield of tannic acid special forest industries,

For belts of shelter-plantations, again, no country in the warm temperate or subtropic zone could choose trees of easier growth, greater resistance, rapidity of increment, early and copious seeding, contentedness with poor soil, and yet valuable wood for various pur- poses, than some of the Australian acacie and casua- rine. They exceed much in quickness of growth the coast shelter-pines of South Europe, Pinus haleppen- sis and Pinus pinaster, but are not all equally lasting. The trade in seeds of this kind is also not unimpor- tant, and the sources of it are, at least partly, in our sylvan land.

Still another forest industry might be viewed as especially Australian, namely, the supply of Fern-trees for commercial exportation. Though about one hun- dred and fifty kinds of Fern-trees are now known, they are mostly children of tropical or subtropical countries, and these, again, nearly all restricted to the humid jungles or the shady valleys meandered by for- est brooks. Very few species of these noble plants extend to a zone so cool as that of Victoria, Tasma- nia, and New Zealand. Again, among this very lim- ited number, the stout and large Dicksonia antartica is not only one of the tallest of all the Fern-trees of the globe, but certainly also the most hardy, and the one which best of all endures a transit through great distances. Indeed, a fresh, frondless stem, even if weighing nearly half a ton, requires only to be placed,

104 FOREST CULTURE AND

without any packing, in the hold of a vessel as ordi-. nary goodg, to secure the safe arrival in Europe,* the vitality being fully thus retained for several months, particularly if the stem is occasionally moistened, and - kept free from the attacks of any animals. Through my unaided exertions these hardy Fern-trees becaine, like many other of our resources, fully known in many countries ; and, while their value became estab- lished, a market for them has now been gained. I would, however, not countenance the vandalism of denuding every one of our Fern-glens of its pride, as, even with all care, in half a century the pristine grand- eur of the scenery could not be restored; yet, when we consider that hundreds of gullies are teeming with these magnificent plants, we can well afford to render them accessible also to all the conservatories of the winterly north, in order that the inhabitants there may indulge in admiration of such superb forms of vegetable life, even though a Fern-tree group in a glass house can convey but a very inadequate idea of the wild splendor of our Fern ravines. Not without pain I have seen constructed the base of whole tram- way lines in some of our forest-gullies, almost exclu- sively of Fern-trees, for the conveyance of timber. A watchful Forest Board would prevent such sacrifice, and would save also the tall Palm-trees of East Gipps Land from sharing the fate of those princely trees at Illawarra and elsewhere. [Since writing this, our Livistonas or Fan-palms have been protected by Gov- ernment interdiction ; the law forbids also the indis- criminate removal of Red Gum-trees from the banks of the Murray River. In Queensland, every bunya-

: * No Fern-tree is indigenous to Europe.

™

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 105

bunya tree and native nut-tree is secured against be- ing felled. The very local and circumscribed Kauri forests, known only in two limited spots, would also need some protection.‘] To the facilities of exporting the huge, square Todea Ferns—a commerce initiated by myself—I alluded on a former occasion.

Having dwelt on some of the technologic or mer- cantile products obtainable from the native forests— few, it is truae—I now pass on to some brief observa- tions in reference to enriching the resources of our woods.

Among new industries which, by introduction from abroad, are likely to be pursued in sylvan localities, that of the cultivation of the Tea shrub of China and Assam stands, perhaps, foremost. Itis a singular fact that even in the genial clime of Southern Europe, and under advantages of inexpensive labor, the important and lucrative branch of Tea-culture has received as yet noattention whatever. This is probably owing to the circumstance that hitherto the laborious manual pro- cess of curling the fresh Tea-leaves under moderate heat has never yet been superseded by adopting for the purpose rollers worked and heated by steam, though such contrivance was suggested here by me many years ago.

The tea thus obtained could always be brought to its best aroma by such a mode of exact control over the degree and duration of the heat. Tea-culture in the ranges would show us which soil, or which geo- logic formation, produced here the best leaves. The yield of the latter would, in the equable air of the hu- mid air of the forest-glens, be far more copious than

106 FOREST CULTURE AND

the harvests which we obtain from the tea-bushes planted iu poor soil or exposed localities near the metropolis, while localities in the ranges are often not accessible to ordinary cereal culture. But I do not speak of Tea cultivation as an ordinary field industry, but rather as a collateral occupation in forest-culture of the lower ranges.

Foreseeing the likelihood that this branch of rural culture would be adopted in many favorable warm spots of this colony, I have distributed, during the past dozen years, the Tea- bush rather extensively among country residents, partly with the view of directing attention to a plant which, even for the sake of ornamental value, is so eligible and easily grown; partly with an intention of seeing thus inde- pendent local supplies of seed forthcoming. In the same way the Cork Oak was very generally distributed by myself, in order that their acorns might, in due time, become locally accessible in very many places.

The tea, in its commercial form, will however, here, not likely be manufactured by the grower. It is more probable that whenever plantations are formed in any forest region, an enterprising man will estab- lish amidst the tea-farms a factory for preparing the tea-leaves, and purchase the latter from the produc- ers. This is the system by which, in many parts of South Europe, the multitude of small lots of silk- cocoons pass into the central reeling establishments ; and this is the manner in which, from numerous peas- ants, the beet-root is obtained for the supply of sugar factories. In the same way the branches of the Su- mach, a shrub which, with care, could be reared in

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 107

our ranges, would be rendered saleable at a central sumach mill.* The demand for tea being so enor- mous, and geographic latitudes like ours being those which allow of its growth, it will be fully apparent that it must assume a prominent part in our future rural economy, particularly as the return for capital and labor thus invested and expended will be quite as early as that from the vine. The importation of tea into Victoria, during 1870, has been valued in the customs returns at £496,623; whereas Victoria might largely export this highly important and remu- nerative commodity.

The simple process of gathering the leaves might be performed by children.

In the foregoing pages I alluded cursorily to the Cork Oak ; let me add my opinion, that in any local- ity with natural boundaries, such as abrupt sides of ranges, deep water -courses, where fences could be largely obviated, the Cork-tree might well be planted as a forest-tree, and thus estates be established at lLit- tle cost, with hardly any expense of maintenance, from which a periodic yield of cork might be obtained for several successive generations. The investment of a limited capital for raising a cork-forest in any naturally-defined locality would, as I said, create a rich possession for bequest. Even if by new inven- tions an artificial substitute for cork was found, the wood of the Cork Oak would still be of some value. The State might also reserve any forest area with: natural boundaries for its various wood requirements.

*An essay by Professor Inzenga, on Sumach-culture in Sicily, translated by Colonel 8. Yule, C. B., is published in the Transactions of the Botanic Society of Edinburgh, vol. ix., 341-355, and was, on my suggestion, trans ferred to a local journal,

108 FOREST CULTURE AND

Many other cultural resources of forests are as yet very inadequately recognized. The dye-saffron might be grown as much for amusement as for the sake of its pretty flowers, just as an ordinary bulb, wherever ju- venile gatherers can be had. Equally lucrative might be made the culture of another plant, the medicinal colchicum, a gay Autumnal flowering bulb worthy of a place in any garden. In apt forest spots both would become naturalized. Amidst‘the forests, in tiie glens which skirt the very base of alpine mountains, on the M’ Allister River, opium was produced without any toil, almost as a play-work, to the value of £30, from an acre. Mr. Bosisto, who, on that particular locality, called forth this industry, found on analysis that the Gipps Land opium proved one of the most powerful on record, ten one hundredths of morphia being its yield. Small samples of opium prepared in the Mel- bourne Botanic Garden were exhibited some years ago at the International Exhibition. The Hon. John Hood, of this city, promoted much the opium industry in this country by the extensive distribution of seeds of the Smyrna poppy ; he found the yield here, in favor- able seasons and by careful operation, to be from forty to fifty pounds on an acre, worth at present thirty to thirty - five shillings per pound. The value of the opium imported into Victoria during 1870, according to customs returns, was £150,681. The banks of many a forest brook, and the slopes within reach of irrigation from springs, might, doubtless, in numerous instances, be converted into profitable hop-fields, the yield of hops in Gipps Land having proved very rich. Mr. A. M. M’Leod obtained, in one instance, fifteen hundred pounds of hops from an acre of ground at Bairnsdale,

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 109

Messrs. A. W. Howitt, F. Webb, and D. Ballentine had there also large returns from their hop-fields. As an instance how large a revenue might be realized’ from forest land in various ways, quite irrespective of wood supply, I adduce the fact that the income ob- tained by the Forest Department of Hanover from the mere gathering of fruit—chiefly bleeberries—amount- ed to £21,750 during one of the late years. The Han- overian forests comprise an area equal to the county of Bourke, our metropolitan county, and occupy one seventh of the territory. Speaking of Hanover, let me add, that the laws promulgated this year in that country render it compulsory on each district to line its roads with trees, the widest distance allowed from tree to tree being thirty feet; similar laws were in force long since in other parts of Germany ; fruit-trees are among the trees chosen for these lines. Would it not therefore be advisable to naturalize along our forest brooks and in our shady vales such plants as the rasp- berry-bush, strawberry-plant, and others, which readily establish themselves ? In one of my exploring tours, when it fell to my lot to discover the remotest sources and tributaries of the River Yarra, and to ascend first of all Mount Baw Baw, I scattered the seeds of the large- fruited Canada blackberry along the alpine springs; and I have since learned that this delicious fruit is now established on the rivulets of that mountain. We may hear of equal successes of experiments which I else- where instituted. The truffle, though not an article of necessity, might be naturalized in many of our for- ests, especially in soil somewhat calcareous. Would any one imagine that during one recent year (1867) the quantity collected in France was valued at £1,-

*6

110 FOREST CULTURE AND

400,000 (35,000,000 francs) ? The time allotted to my address is not sufficient to add much to these instances.

On various occasions I drew attention to the likeli- hood of Peru-bark plants being eligible for culture in the sheltered and warmer parts of our woods, inas- much as in brush shades of the Botanic Gardens the cinchone endured a temperature two or three degrees under the freezing point. Last year Cinchona-plants given by me to Mr. G. W. Robinson, of Hillesley, near Berwick, for experiment, passed quite well through the cool season without any cover. The lowest temperature at Harmony Valley, Blackwoud Gully, in the Dandenong Ranges, observed during 1866 by Mr. Jabez Richardson, who, on my request, kindly undertook the thermometer readings there during that year, was still one degree above the freez- ing point, while the temperature at the Melbourne Observatory sunk to twenty-eight degrees Fahren- heit. Let me note, however, that simultaneously frost occurred in the open flats of Dandenong ; hence the great importance of forest shelter in cases like this. East Gipps Land, with its mild temperature, is likely. to prove the aptest part of the Victorian colony for Peru-bark cultivation. "Who does not remember the deep grief into which a small insular colony sunk within the last few years, when its population became actually decimated by fever, and when, after one hundred and fifty years of existence of that unhappy colony, only just the first Cinchonas had been planted.

In some of the uplands of New South Wales, where it was desirable to clear away bush vegetation—such, for instance, in which Daviesias, or native hop, pre-

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 111

dominated —angoras proved very effectual for the purpose. Doubtless there are many forest tracts where this measure could be adopted with advantage to gain grass pasture, without any injury being done to large native trees; but the smaller trees are likely to suffer, while the underwood might in many instances be better utilized for potash or oil. At all events, goats are, among pastoral animals, the most destructive to vegetation, and much of the forests on the Alps of Switzerland and Tyrol were destroyed by the indis- criminate access given to goats. The Angora, with its precious fleece, can therefore be located only in some forest regions; it thrives, moreover, in the desert.

I might allude, on this occasion, also to the great productiveness of bees in our forests, the flowers of so many of our native plants, and among them those of the Eucalypts, being mellaginous—blossoms of some kind or the other being available all the year round. Cuba, with an area less than half that of Victoria, exported, in the year 1849, so large a quantity of honey as two millions and eight hundred thousand pounds, and about one million pounds of wax. I be- lieve the export has since increased. A forest inhab- itant might devote a plot of ground near his dwelling to the earth-nut or pea-nut, an originally Brazilian plant, of which latterly about nine hundred thousand bushels were produced annually in the United States for the sake of its excellent table-oil. In Harper's Magazine of 1870 it is stated that of the earth-nut, in 1869, not less than two hundred and thirty-five thou- ‘sand bushels were brought to New York. It is esti- mated that Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Carolina

112 FOREST CULTURE AND

have conjointly sent over one million bushels to mar: ket in 1870. The yield, it is said, is from eighty to one hundred and twenty bushels on an acre. The seeds are slightly roasted for the table, or pressed for a palatable oil. As much as ten shillings to twelve shillings is paid for the bushel in New York. The plant seems well eligible for forest-farms, particularly in a somewhat calcareous soil. In the garden under my control I have reared it with ease.

I intended to have spoken of the various imple- ments especially designed for wood-cuiture ; but time will not admit of it. Thus, merely by way of exam- ple, I place before you one of those utensils — the hohlborer, or, as it might be called, the ‘‘ bore-spade”’ —brought into use nearly fifty years ago by a scientific forester, Dr. Heyer, of Giessen. Several thousand plants of the Scotch Fir and of other pines can be lifted with this bore-spade in a day by one forest laborer, the object being that each seedling should retain a" small earth-ball, to facilitate the success of the mov- ing process. About ten thousand such seedlings are conveyed at a time in a forest wagon.*

And yet, it must be confessed, our colony, with others in the Australian group, has accomplished but very little in any branch of sylvan maintenance, or forest culture, or the advance of industrial pursuits in our woodlands.

One precursory step, however, has been made, and this is likely to be followed. I allude to the exten- sive gratuitous distribution of plants to public grounds in most parts of our colony—a distribution which has teen in operation under the authority of Government

* Since this lecture was delivered a short account of the hore-s appeared in the Melbourne Economist, " is ae

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 113

from ground under my control for the last twelve years. I should think it not unlikely that this rais- ing of trees in masses will soon become also a special object of attention to the railway department, within its own areas, to re-supply its own wants.

While a divine may withdraw some of his slender means, or a teacher may devote a share of his scanty earning, to inclose the ground of his dwelling, with a view of protecting a few trees on spots not really their own, we may be sure that the authorities do not wish to see hundreds of miles of railway fences long left unutilized, so far as planting of trees is con- cerned, particularly as such fences for this purpose afford much ready inducement. The average width of the railway area is two and a half chains, both on the Ballarat and Echuca lines, therefore far wider than that of European lines, and spacious enough for tree plantations, at least of some kinds. The length of the N. E. Railway line will be one hundred and eighty-five miles, giving, consequently, three hundred and seventy miles’ length for plantations. Theslower- growing or less - lofty trees would there be on their place, such as our Red Gum-tree, the Iron-bark-tree, the W. A. Yarrah, the Blackwood-tree, the British Oak, the Quebec and Live Oak, the Cork Oak, the Elm, the Ash, the Totara, the Chestnut -tree, the Walnut, the Hickory, and many others which do not suffer from exposure ; for while the railway loan will last for an indefinite period, the railway material, such as the fences, sleepers, cars, will not last forever, and for these the wood might thus inexpensively become re-available in due time. Even where the railway space is narrow the operation of lopping the

114 FOREST CULTURE AND

planted trees along its lines might most readily be resorted to, and dangerous encroachments thereby be avoided.

No one ever expected our most serviceable Railway Department to be burdened with the additional heavy task of entering on cultural pursuits, and I see no way of attaining the object here specially indicated unless purposely financial means and administrative organizations were provided by the State.

In a special work (Die Bepfianzung der Eisenbahn Damme, etc., by E. Lucas, second edition, 1870) the methods adopted in Germany for utilizing the railway dams, and the free space within railway fences, for wood and fruit culture, is amply discussed. With the increasing value of culture-land this question of utilizing the spare ground along railways becomes more and more important. Where the space proves too narrow for rearing timber- trees, Hazel, Olives, Figs, Mulberries, Almonds, Osiers, Sumach, Myall,

‘Ricinus, Blackberries, and such other lower trees or

bushes as require no great attention, could doubtless be grown with profit. It might also be possible to establish advantageously permanent hedges of Haw- thorn, Opuntias, Osage Orange, and other not readily- inflammable and easily-managed bushes. Luzern and Sainfoin are much cultivated along continental rail- way-lines as fodder-herbs.

In North America six hundred and fifty Walnuts or Hickories are planted on an acre ; though standing so close, they are worth twelve shillings in twenty years for a variety of purposes. If wanted for heavy timber or nuts, they are thinned out so as to keep them twenty feet apart, This may serve as an indi-

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 115

cation how spare places on railways might be utilized. Our regular and quick communication with California is giving now easy opportunity for importing nuts of the various American Hickories and Walnut-trees in quantity ; while of the ordinary Persian Walnut-tree seeds can already be obtained both here and in Tas- mania. MResinous Pine-trees may possibly increase any danger of conflagrations on railway-lines. Nur- series for sowing seeds of hardy utilitarian trees might at once be established on all the railway-stations at comparatively little cost.

The only effective public effort hitherto made to anticipate the necessities of forest culture consists in the planting of public reserves, parks, church-yards, school-grounds, cemeteries, and the area of many of our public buildings. The trading horticulturists have also largely aided in the importation and raising of foreign trees.

In this effort, as already remarked, I took a promi- nent share, or perhaps, in many instances, it origi- nated from impulses or supports given by myself.

Undoubtedly, it was a primary object to cover the dismal barrenness of public grounds, to help in miti- gating thereby local dryness and heat, to afford shade and shelter, and torender many a barren spot a pleas- ing retreat.

But this was not my only object. I had a second, and, to my mind, higher one in view.

I wished that, locally, many nuclei for forest cult- ure should be formed ; that, within comparatively few years, seeds should almost everywhere become avail- able in masses from local tree-plantations ; and that thus efforts now made for parks and pleasure-grounds

116 FOREST CULTURE AND

should be enlarged for creating more or less extensive forests.

These ideas may, perhaps, excite some surprise, yet I feel confident that they will and must be acted on before, in frightful truthfulness, the terrors of a woodless country in our zone, and settled with a fu- ture dense population, will be encountered.

Should, however, ‘my warnings fail to impress the public mind, then at least I have placed my views on record, and should not be held responsible for inter- ests, however vital, which the trust of my position must largely bring under my reflection and care.

My effort in supplying merely material for raising local plantations all over the colony is, however, but the first step in a great national work of progress ; and I think we may reflect, not without some pride, that this public step was made in Australia here first of all.

Half a million of plants distributed by me to public institutions is, after all, but a trifle in a country that requires hundreds of millions of foreign trees, if it really is to advance to greatness and the highest pros- perity ; a greatness that will be retarded in the same degree as attention to this, one of its most urgent in- terests, is deferred.

The gifts of plants from the establishment under my control have provided the country with many a species that otherwise would not have existed here yet. Many of the magnificent or quick-growing Him- alayan and California Pines, not to speak of others, became through my hand first dispersed by thousands and thousands; and although I may have incurred the displeasure of a few of the less thoughtful of my

EUCALYPTUS TREES, 117

fellow-citizens, who wished the slender means of my young establishments appropriated for the ephemeral glory of floral displays, and who wished to sacrifice lasting progress to unproductive gaiety, yetI feel assured that the fair feelings of the inhabitants of Victoria in general will approve of the path of pre- dominant utility which I struck out for myself, and will respect the considerations which prompted me, in an equitable spirit toward town and country, toattend in the first instance to pressing necessities, leaving the unnecessary or less useful for the exertions of a later time.

If a census of the trees, which are to furnish us much seed for forest culture, could be held all over the colony, perhaps my early efforts would be viewed with more justice and gratitude.

“ They did of solace treat, And bathe in pleasure of the joyous shade, Which shielded them against the broiling heat, And with green bough decked the gloomy glade.” SPENSER.

In passing through a demolished forest, how sad- dening to us its aspect! What mind, capable of high- er feelings, can suppress its sympathy, when we see stretched and withering on the ground a princely tree which but a few hours previously was an object of our admiration and a living monument of magnificence and glory. Do you think it had its enjoyment? Does it send mere automatically, without animation or sensibility of any kind, its crown to the sunny sky, or drink joyless the pearly dew ? Do you think it closes its flowers but mechanically, or unfolds them again to imbibe light and genial warmth, absolutely without gladness or pleasure of any kind? What is

118 FOREST CULTURE AND

vitality, and what mortal will measure the share of delight enjoyed by any organism! Why should even the life of a plant be expended cruelly and wastefully, _especially if, perhaps, this very plant stood already in youthful elegance, while yet the diprotodon (a wom- bat of the size of a buffalo) was roaming over the for- est ridges encircling Port Phillip Bay—when those forest ridges on the very place of this city were still clothed in their full natal garb. Do not assume that I lean to transmutation doctrines ; or that to my un- derstanding there is an uninterrupted transit from the thoughts which inspire the mind to the faculties of animals and to the vitality of plants! ‘Yet that individual life, whatever it may be, which we often so thoughtlessly and so ruthlessly destroy, but which we never can restore, should be respected. Is it not as if the sinking tree was speaking imploringly to us, and when falling wished to convey to us its sadness and its grief? Like the nomadic wanderer of the Australian soil passed away before us, so I fear most of the traces of our beautiful and evergreen forest will be lost ere long.

a . “Itis a goodly sight to see What heaven has done for this delicious land ; What flowers of fragrance blush on every tree, What glad’ning prospects o’er the hills expand ! But man would mar them with an impious hand.” BYEon.

Beyond the plain utilitarian purposes of our forests (some of which I endeavored briefly to explain), and beyond all, the important functions which the woods have to perform in the great economy of Nature, they possess still other claims on our consideration, such as ought to evoke some feeling of piety toward them,

EUCALYPTUS TREES. 119

It was in the forests where the poetic mind of Schil- ler, during his early boyhood,* first of all awoke to its deep love for nature; where his strong sense for noble rectitude was formed ; where he framed his ideals of all that is elevated and great. This influ- ence of nature we see reflected in other lofty minds ; it leads true genius on its luminous path. Contrast the magnificence of a dense forest, before the de- structive hand of man defaced it, with the cheerless aspect of wide landscapes devoid of wooded scenery— only open plains or treeless ridges bounding the hori- zon. The silent grandeur and solitude of a virgin forest inspires us almost with awe —much more so than even the broad expanse of the ocean. It con- veys, also, involuntarily to our mind a feeling as if we were brought more closely before the Divine Pow- er by whom the worlds without end were created, and before whom the proudest human work must sink into utter insignificance. No settlement, how- ever princely — no city, however great its splendor, brilliant its arts, or enchanting its pleasures — can arouse those sentiments of veneration which, among all the grand works of nature, an undisturbed noble forest-region is most apt to call forth. I never saw truly happier homes of unmingled contentedness than in the seclusion of the woods. It is as if the bracing pureness of the air, the remoteness from the outer world, the unrestricted freedom from formal restraint, give to forest-life a charm for which in vain we will ever seek elsewhere. The forest inhabitant, as a rule, sees his life prolonged ; an air of peace on all sides sur- rounds him; even with less prosperity, he is glad to

* Sketch of the Life of Schiller, by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, p. 2,

120 FOREST CULTURE.

break away from the turmoils and enmities into which elsewhere he is thrown by the bustle and struggle of the world, and to seek again this calm retreat in forest mountains, The existence of many an invalid might be prolonged and rendered more enjoyable, while many a sufferer might be restored to health, were he to seek timely the patriarchal simplicity of forest- life, and the pure air, wafted decarbonized in deli- cious freshness through the forest, ever invigorating strength, restoring exhilaration and buoyancy of his mind. In this young country new lines of railway are early to disclose some of the almost paradisic fea- tures of sylvan scenery, hitherto known to most of us only through the talent of illustrious landscape-paint- ers of this city.

“ To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell ; To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene, Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell, And mortal foot has ne’er or rarely been ; To climb the trackless mountain, sll unseen, With the wild flock, that never need a fold ; Alone o'er steep and foaming falls to lean— This is not solitude : ’tis but to hold Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores untold.” BYRON.

I regard the forest as an heritage given to us by Nature, not for spoil or to devastate, but to be wisely used, reverently honored, and carefully maintained. I regard the forests as a gift, intrusted to any of us only for transient care during a short space of time, to be surrendered to posterity again as an unimpaired property, with increased riches and augmented bless- ings to pass as a sacred patrimony from generation to generation,

ON THE

JXPPLICATION OF PHYTOLOGY

TO THE

INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES OF LIFE.

A POPULAR DISCOURSE,

Delivered at the Industrial Museum of Melbourne, on 8a November, 1870.

By Ferdinand von Mueller, C.M.G,, M.D., Ph. D., F.R.S,

Comm. Ord., Santiago, Kn. of Orders of Austria, France, Prussia, Italy, Wuertemberg, Denmark, Mecklenburg, Gotha; Government Botanist for Victoria, and Director of the Botanic Gardens at Melbourne.

Called upon somewhat suddenly to choose the theme for the discourse of this evening, I made my choice unguardedly. I anticipated in my thoughts how, during the intended instructive recreation of this hour, the bearings of intimate botanic knowledge on many an industrial pursuit might readily be dem- onstrated by some impressive facts. But, on reflec- tion, I saw myself at once surrounded by so varied and bewildering a multitude of objects that to do jus. tice in a few words to my theme became a hopeless task. But while I offer this mere introductory ad- dress for a series of lectures on the phytologic section

122 FOREST CULTURE AND

of this institution, we might learn by a rapid glance over an area of knowledge singularly wide that only

through many successive discourses, explaining sub. jects in detail, the student can become aware of the

importance of phytologic knowledge in its relation to

the industrial purposes of life. In all zones, except

the most icy, mankind depends on plants for its prin- cipal wants. For our sustenance, clothing, dwellings,

or utensils ; for our means of transit, whether by sea or land; indeed, for all our ordinary daily require-

ments, we have to draw the material largely, and

often solely, from the vegetable world. The resources

for all these necessities must be—it cannot be other-

wise—manifold in the extreme, and singularly varied,

again, in different climatic zones, or under otherwise - modified conditions.

To render, therefore, these vegetable treasures accessible to our fullest benefit, not only locally, but universally, must ever be an object of the deepest sig- nificance. Increasing requirements of the human races and augmented insight into the gifts of nature render now-a-days quite imperative the closest appli- ances of science to our resources and our daily wants.

“ Omnis tellus optima ferat /’’ has become the motto of our Acclimatization Society ; or let me quote from Virgil: ‘« Non omnis fert omnia tellus, hic segetes, illic weniunt felicius uvae.”” Striving to unite the products of many lands, it suffices for us nowhere any longer to discriminate among these resources with merely crude notions; but it becomes necessary to fix accu- rately, also, as far as plants are concerned, their indus- trial value, trace their origin, test their adaptability, investigate their productiveness, durability, qualities ;

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and to reduce all these inquiries to a sound basis by assigning to any species that position in the phyto- logic system by which it can be recognized by any one in any part of the globe. When the wants of phy- toglaphy are satisfied we have to call to aid chemistry, therapy, geology, culture, microscoptic investigation, pictorial art, and other branches of knowledge, to illustrate the respective value of the species, and the degree of its importance to any particular community. But in the discussions of one evening we can do no more than to touch succinctly only on a few of those vegetable objects most promising to our own colony for introduction, or most accessible among those indig- enous here; we may glance on them, also, with a view of learning how their elucidation might practi- cally be pursued, and the knowledge thus gained be diffused. To aid in the latter aim the phytologic sec- tion in the Industrial Museum is to be established ; of the requirements of this section I shall say a few passing words.

The products and educts of the vegetable world are immense; any display of them in the order of sci- ence, as intended for this museum, must carry with it a permanency of impressive instruction which any other modes of teaching, sure to be more ephemerous, fail to convey. But these efforts at diffusing knowl- edge should be seconded by means not inadequate to a great object, and should be worthy of the dignity and name of this rising country. Who would not like to see the best woods of every country stored up here in instructive samples—nearly a thousand kinds alone to choose from, as far as our continent is con- cerned ? Who would not wish to have here at hand

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for comparison the barks, exudations, grains, drugs, as raw material? Who would not desire to have ready access to a series of oils, whether pressed or distilled, whether from indigenous or imported plants ? Who would not have it in his power to compare the starches, dyes, casts of our luscious fruits, or the paper- material, tars, acids, coals of various kinds, fibers, alkaloids, and other medicinal preparations from various plants ?

Why not place here a series of all the weapons and implements, traced accurately to their specific origin ? From such even in many instances we have learned, through keen observations of the first nomadic occu- pants of the soil, the use of many kinds of wood. All these objects, crude or prepared in the multitudinous way of their adaptations, ought to be accompanied, wherever necessary, by full explanatory designations, microscopic sections, and other means of elucidation ; while the periodic issue of descriptive indices, detail- ing still more copiously the derivation, uses, prepa- ration, and monetary value of such objects, will enable us to serve the full intentions for which this museum section has been formed.

Lectures, however valuable, demonstrations, how- ever instructive, cannot aldne form the path of exten- sive industrial education ; most minds, indeed, prefer to dwell tacitly on the objects of their choice, and muse quietly about the adaptability of any of them for operations or improvements in which they may be specially interested.

How many inventions have received their first impulse from an institution such as we wish to form ! Investigators, eminent in their profession, will doubt-

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less unite here, sooner or later, to bring to bear the sum of their knowledge, earned by a life-long toil, for giving vitality to that information which is to enter guidingly into the ordinary purposes of life. Thus, the happiness and prosperity of our fellow-men should be enhanced and exalted, and one of the loftiest ob- jects of our striving after truths be fulfilled.

But the unassuming worker, conscious how far his own honest intentions advanced beyond his best re- sults, may well exclaim with Moore, in his soft melo- dies :

** Ah | dreams too full of saddening truth, Those mansions o’er the main Are like the hopes I built in youth, As eunny, and as vain!”

Let us first take a glance at one of our innumerable forest glens. We see in the deep, rich detritus of rocks and fallen leaves, accumulated in past centu- ries some of the grandest features of the world’s veg- etation. Fern-trees* rise, at least exceptionally, to a height of eighty feet, higher, therefore, than any other parts of the globe, unless in Norfolk Island. Mammoth-Eucalypts abound, having, in elevation, rivals only in the Californian Sequoia Wellingtonia ; Wwe may, indeed, obtain, from one individual tree, planks enough to freight almost a ship of the tonnage of the Great Britain. Todea Ferns, now sought in trade, occur in these recesses, weighing, deprived of their fronds, almost a ton ; and, if the Xanthorrhceas do resemble, as popularly thought, our once spear- armed natives, then the Todea stems bear certainly as justly a resemblance to large black bears, as has bee#@ comically contended. The Fan Palms,+ though

* Alsophila Australis, R. Br. +t Corypha (Livistona) Australis, R. Br, 7

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only occurring in East Gipps Land, within our terri- tory, rank among the most lofty of the globe, though also among the most hardy. All this, in our latitude, seem astounding — but more, it demonstrates, also, great riches; and I allude to it here only because I wished to show how a vegetation so prodigious points to the facilities of a natural, magnificent, industrial eulture. The complex of vegetation is always an in- dicator of the soil and climate ; as such alone, plants deserve close study. In this instance it reveals un- told treasures, and yet, without phytographic knowl- edge they could never be understood, nor any intelli- gent appreciation of them be conveyed beyond the lo- cality.

But can this grand picture of nature not be further embellished? Might not the true Tulip-tree, and the large Magnolias of the Mississippi and Himalaya, tower far over the Fern-trees of these valleys, and widely overshade our arborescent Labiatae ?* Might not the Andine Wax Palm, the Wettinias, the Gin- gerbread Palm, the Jubea, the Nicau, the northern Sabals, the Date, the Chinese Fan Palms, and Rhapis flabelliformis, be associated with our Palm in a glori- ous picture? Or, turning to still more utilitarian ob- jects, would not the Cork-tree, the Red Cedar, the Camphor-tree, the Walnuts and Hickories of North America, grow in these rich, humid dales, with very much greater celerity than even with all our tending in less genial spots? Could not, of four hundred co- niferous trees, and three hundred sorts of Oaks, nearly every one be naturalized in these ranges, and €hus

* Rhododendron arboreum attains a height of thirty feet, while Rh, Fal- coneri rises to fifty feet, with leaves half a yard long.

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deals, select tanning material, cork, pitch, turpentine, and many other products be gained far more readily there than elsewhere in Victoria, from sources ren- dered ourown? Ought we not to test in these val- leys how far the Sisso, the Sal, the Teak, may prove hardy, and as important here as our Blackwood and Eucalypts abroad? Or shall I enumerate all the orna- mental woods for furniture, Machinery, instruments, which form an endless array of genera, and species might be chosen as introducable, indeed, from most lands ; many of these, perhaps, to find an asylum in our mountains before—like in St. Helenaand other isolated spots—the remarkable and endemic trees are swept by man’s destructive agency from the face of the globe ? Shall I speak in detail of the trees which yield dyes, and many medicinal substances ? If the Turkey Box- tree should continue the best for the wood-engraver, it would, in these valleys, assume its largest dimensions. I do not hesitate in affirming that out of ten thousand kinds of trees, which proba- bly constitute the forests of the globe, at least three thousand would live and thrive in these mountains of ours; many of them destined to live through cen- turies, perhaps, not a few through twice a thousand years, as great historic monuments. Within the railway-fences, hitherto in this respect unused, trees might be raised as materials for restoring, locally, the sleepers, posts, and rails, prior to their decay. The principles of physiology, the revelations of the micro- scope, aud the results of chemical tests guide us, not only in our selections of the trees, but often teach us, beforehand, the causes and reasons of durability or de- cay.

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The longevity of certain kinds of trees is marvel- ous. British Oaks are estimated to attain an age of two thousand years. The Walnut- tree, the Sweet Chestnut, and Black Mulberry-tree, live through many centuries, if cared for. Wellingtonias are found to be one thousand one hundred years old, Eventhe South European Elm, which, since the time of the Romans, has also made Britain its home, is known to stand six hundred years. Dr. Hooker regards the oldest Ce- dars yet existing, at Mount Lebanon, as two thousand five hundred years old. Historic records are extant of Orange-trees having attained an age of seven hun- dred years, yet aged trees continue in full bearing, under favorable circumstances ; a single tree is said to have yielded, in a harvest, twenty thousand oran- ges. Individual Olive-trees are also supposed to have existed ever since the Christian era. The Ku- ropean Cypres3, the British Yew, the Ginkgo, and the Kauri afford other remarkable instances of longevity.

The Date-Palm gratefully bears its rich crop of fruit for two hundred years. The Dragon-tree of Orotava is another familiar example of extraordinary longevi- ty. Here, in Victoria, the native Beech, and several Eucalypts are veritable patriarchs of the forests, and of a far more venerable age than is generally supposed.

So much for the lasting of some of our work, to en- courage planting operations.

If Cook, who stepped with the pride of an explorer on these shores precisely a century ago, could view once more the scene of his discoveries, he would be charmed by the sight of noble cities, and the happy aspect of rural industry; but he would turn his eyes in dismay from the desolation and aridity which a

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merciless sacrifice of the native forests has already so sadly brought about—a sacrifice arising from an utter absence of all thoughts for the future. Ever since an- tiquity this work of forest destruction has gone on in every country, until, sooner or later, such reckless improvidence has been overtaken by a resentful Ne- mesis, in hindering the progress of national prosper- ity, and the comfort of whole communities.

After lengthened periods of toil there partially arose, but partially only, what an early guardianship might have readily retained for most countries. When I largely shared in the labors of establishing, for Aus- tralian trees, a reputation abroad, I certainly did, also, entertain a hope to awaken here, likewise, a univer- sal interest in the dissemination of an almost endless number of trees from the colder and subtropic girdles of the whole globe. (Vide Phil. Inst., 1858, pp. 98 to 109.) A few scattered trees are of no national mo- ment. We want the massive upgrowth of the Pitch- pines, just as on the Pine barrens of the United States ; we want whole forests of the Deal Pines, both cis and transatlantic ; we want over all our mountains the Silver Fir, already the charm of the ancients; we want the Australian Red Cedar, scarcely any longer existing in its native haunts; we want the Yarrah- tree, forest-like, as in West Australia ; we want the various elastic Ash-trees, which are so easily raised ; we want, indeed, no end of other trees, because the greater part of Victoria is ill- wooded ; because our climate is hot and dry ; because extensive coal layers we have not yet found. What practical bearing can all the teaching in this hall, all the display in this mu- seum, really exercise, if, finally, the artisan finds him.

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self without an adequate and inexpensive material for his work? Annually, the timber of one hundred and fifty thousand acres is cut away in the United States to supply the want for railway-sleepers alone. The annual expenditure there in wood, for railway build- ings and.cars, is £7,600,000. In a single year the lo- comotives of the United States consume £11,200,000 of wood. The whole wood industries of the United States represent, now, an annual expenditure of one hundred million sterling. There, forty thousand arti- sans are engaged alone in woodwork. Here, in Vic- toria, notwithstanding the activity of many saw-mills, we imported, only last year, timber to the value of £270,572 for our own use. As these remarks may find publicity, I have appended further notes on tim- ber-trees, eminently desirable for massive introduc- tion, but do not wish to exhaust by details the pa- tience of this audience.

But it would be vain to expect that Europe and America will continue forever to furnish for us their timber. The constantly-increasing population and the augmented requirements of advancing industries will render no longer yonder woods accessible also to us before the century passes, because even in those north- ern countries the timber supply will then barely sat- isfy local wants.

An idea may be formed of forest value when we enter on some calculations of the supply of timber or - other products available from one of our largest Eu- calyptus-trees. Suppose one of the colossal Eucalyp- tus amygdalina at the Black Spur was felled, and its total height ascertained to be four hundred and eighty feet, its circumference toward the base of the stem

’

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eighty-one feet, its lower diameter to be twenty-six feet, and at the height of three hundred feet its diam- eter six feet. Suppose only half the available wood was cut into planks of twelve inches width, we would get, in the terms of the timber trade, four hundred and twenty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty superficial feet at one inch thickness, sufficient to cover nine and three fourths acres. Thesame bulk of wood cut into railway-sleepers, six feet by six inches by eight inches, would yield in number seventeen thou- sand seven hundred and eighty. Not less than a length of twenty-three miles of three-rail fencing, including the necessary posts, could be constructed. It would require a ship of about one thousand tonnage to convey the timber and additional firewood of half the tree; and six hundred and sixty-six drayloads at one and one half tons would thus be formed to remove half the wood. The essential oil obtainable from the foliage of the whole tree may be estimated at thirty- one pounds; the charcoal, suppose there was no loss of wood, seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty bushels ; the crude vinegar, two hundred and twenty- seven thousand two hundred and sixty-nine gallons ; the wood-tar, thirty-one thousand one hundréd and fifty gallons ; the potash, two tons eleven hundred weight. But how many centuries elapsed before un- disturbed nature could build up by the subtle process- es of vitality these huge and wondrous structures! Some feelings of veneration and reverence should also be evinced toward the native vegetation, where it displays its rarest and grandest forms. It is la- mentable that in all Australia scarcely a single spot

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has been secured * for preserving some relics of its most ancient trees to convey to posterity an idea of the original features of our primeval forests. Though it may appear foreign to my subject, I cannot with- hold also on this occasion an imploring word, more particularly when I notice land - proprietors in East Australia to hold not even sacred a single native Banyan-tree, which required centuries for building its expansive dome and its hundreds of columnar pil- lars ; nor to allow a single Cyrtosia Orchid to continue with its stem trailing to the length of thirty feet, and to remain with its thousands of large, fragrant blos- soms, the pride of the forest. That very Cyrtosia gives a clue to the affinity and structure of other plants not nearer to us than Java ; and its destruction, with probably -that of many others which the naturalist forever is now prevented to dissect, or the artist to delineate, or the museum custodian to preserve, will be a loss to systematic natural history, also, forever. Again, in a spirit of Vandalism, a Fan-Palm, after a hundred years’ growth, is no longer allowed to raise its slender stem and lofty crown in our own forests of Gipps Land, simply because curiosity is prompted to obtain a dishful of Palm-Cabbage at the sacrifice of a century’s growth.

Let it be remembered that the uncivilized inhabit- ants of many a tropical country know how to respect the original and not always restorable gifts of a boun- tiful Providence. They will invaribly climb the Palm-

* On the River Hastings some magnificent dales have been lately protected by the Government of New South Wales for the sake of the incomparably beautiful and grand native vegetation, an example deserving extensive imi- tation. The forests of the Bunya Araucaria, occupying only a limited naty- Tal area, gre also secured against intrusion by the Government, :

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tree to obtain its nuts or to plait its leaves; so, also a resident in our forests might obtain from a grove of our hardy Palms, if still any are left in this land of Canaan, an annual income by harvesting the séeds as one of the most costly articles of horticultural export.

Speaking of Palms, let me observe that the tall Wax Palm of New Granada (Ceroxlyon andicola) extends almost to the snow-line. It is néedless to add that we might grow this magnificent product of andine vegetation in many localities of the country of our own adoption. Each stem yields annually about twenty-five pounds of a waxy, resinous coat- ing, which when melted together with tallow forms an exquisite composition for candles. Chamerops Fortunei, a-‘Chinese Fan Palm of considerable height, is here hardy, like in South Europe; so would be, prob- ably, the Gingerbread Palm (Hyphaene Thebaica). Of the value of some Palms we may form an appreci- ation when we reflect that Elais Guineensis, which at the end of this century should be productive in Queensland and North-west Australia, yields from the