The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-05-21
Properties and Advantages of the Eucalyptus
Tree.

The San Francisco Bulletin gives the follow
ing account of the Eucalyptus Globulus, or
Australian gum-tre obtained principally from
Messrs Sontag & Co., Of San Francisco, who
have given much attention to its cultvation:
The Eucalyptus is favorably known to all
residents of California, where probably not
less than one million trees are planted. In this
city, in front of handsome residences, you will
find it with its magnificent dropping branches,
making an effective and graceful shade-tree.
In Oakland the broad avenues are lined with
them. Eucalyptus forests are planted in the
country surrounding Oakland, and, in fact, in
every county in the State, where the cold win
ter will permit it to live, the Eucalyptus will
of this tree have only within the past few
years been discovered and appreciated. 1t is
Justly claimed that when the tree fourishes in
low, marshy and feverish districts all miasma
will cease 1t destroys the malarial element
in any atmosphere where it grows, and is a
great absorbent of moisture, draining the SUBJ
soil almost as thoroughly as a regular system
of piping. The Eucalyptus is an evergreen,
and is found in its native country (Tasmania)
in boundess forests both on the hillside and
in the lowlands, under extremes of climates,
both as to the heat and cold, ranging from l3O
degrees to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Whether it
will endure a greater degree Of cold we think
has as yet been undetermined. 1t is, however,
worthy trial Its remarkably rapid growth
is matter of much surprise, attaining, as it
does, maximum height of about three hum
dred feet, with a circumference of from thirty
to fifty feet For timber and fuel it is exceed
ingy useful, being hard and easily worked, and
very serviceable for such purposes as the keels
of vessels, bridges, &c., where strength and
durability are essential. 1t is estimated that
from $4,000, 900 to S5,000,000 in value of this
timber is exported annually from Australia.
The leaves of this tree are of dark blush
color, about ten inches long, an inch wide, thin
and oddly twisted. They exhale a strong
camphorlike odor, quite agreeable and pleas
ant, which, with the large absorption Of water
by the roots, causes the beneficial influence OF
the tree. 1t bears a small white flower, having
no odor. In consequence of its anti-tebrile
qualities the English government has planted
it extensively in the East Indies and Africa, in
fever districts, with the most satisfactory re-
suits. In France, Cuba Spain, Mexico, and
many other places where malaria, fever, ague
and other pestilential diseases prevailed, the
Eucalypti have also been planted. The won
derful properties of this tree have been dis
cussed by many scientific institutions in Eu
rope. In the Academy of Sciences, in this
city, its medicinal and anti-masmatic qualities
have received considerable attention. Dr.
Pigne Dupuytren testified before that academy
of the virtues of the Eucalyptus, and stated
that he and DR.. D'Olivera had tested it in the
French Hospital. In the garden surrounding
this hospital large number OF the trees are
planted for sanitary purposes. 1t had been
found eficacious in the treatment OF affections
of the larynX and of mucous membrane in
general. Experiments, carefully made, have
proved that in medicinal preparation it
cures cases of intermittent fever, against which
uuinine alone proves powerless. 1t is also val
liable as disintectant. In Algeria its cuti-
vation was undert iken on large scale. Some
13 900 lucalypti were planted in an extremely
pestiential and unhealthy section, where fever
prevailed to great extent every year. During
the first year of their growth, at the time when
the fever season used to set in, not a single
case of fever occurred, yet the trees were only
nine feet high Since then this place is re-
ported free from its unwelcome visitations IN
the vicinity of Constantinople, another fever
spot, marshy and sickly, the whole ground was
dried up by IA, 900 of these trees. In Cuba,
marsh diseases are rapidly disappearing upon
the introduction of this tree. A railway sta
ton in the Department of the Var was so
pestiential that the officials could not remain
there longer than year. Forty of these trees
were planted, and the unhealthy condition of
the place was changed. Two miles from Hay,
wards, in this State, the surveyor-general.
planted two groves of the Eucalyptus, one OF
about ninety acres and the other seventy acres,
the whole comprising about 10000 trees.
They are now only about five years old, yet
many of the trees are forty to fifty feet high, the
whole making most extensive and beautiful
forest; for fuel and timber purposes, being
worth thousands of dollars.