The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-01-31
From the 5. Australian Chronicle.
The Eucalyptus.

= NU-IIT TIEUT- 70 UUlCT UIl VIII 10 - ITI
handy, and to over-estimate what is costly and
difficult of attainment. In consequence OF ;hls
many useful products of nature have suffered in
reputation. while others have been crowned with
a reknOwn which is undeseryed. 1t would seem
as if a most conspicuous illustration of this fact
were provided in the present worldwide popular
iy of our Australian trees. COlonists are wont
to despise them. They are made to suffer by
comparison with the spreading oaks and beeches
of England, and called ugly and struggling.
Their timber is hard and some of il apt to split,
and go Australia is said to be poorly off in the
matter of native timber trees by the side Of
North America. Although some kinds of euca-
lyptus are almost if not quite unrIvalled by any
timber in the world for jetties, ship building,
railway sleepers, and other purposes requiring
strength, hardness, and lasting qualities, yet
generally speaking the farmers look upon them
as so much rubbish to be cleared off his land, or
at the best used for fencing, or as affording so
much trewood to be retailed in the city at exor-
bitant prices. The gardener dislIkes them be-
cause they interfere with the growth of less
vigorous trees and make a constant litter with
the shedding Of their leaves and bark. Some
lovers of the picturesque grumble at their I'M
slightly outline and the monotonous coloring Of
their dark evergreen foliage. Meanwhile these
same trees are obtaining a worldwide fame in
other lands. Algeria, California, Italy and the
Cape are vieing with each other in adjoining
waste lands with groves of eucalyptus. Bota-
nists and chemists are engaged in the analysis OF
LDC DlOAuClo W ulCu al DC CANAdNlCu HUN AhOLh
Medical men in fever-strIcken foreign countries
deem the indictments obtained from gum-trees
as only second in value to Peruvian bark, and
some sanguine scientists are writing Of our de-
spised eucalyptus as though the world were de-
stined to be made anew, and a paradise restored
by the wide planting of seedlings from Australia.
No less a writer than NJ. Betham Edwards speaks
of the " momentOus discovery > made by a
French naturalist, Labilladiere, in the year 1892,
and contrasts it's peaceful results with the stormy
II =. ---I~ =. rra-Ia - 80
quite romantic: The fever-destroying, health
giving Australian bluegum-tree, or eucalyptus,
destined three generations later to transform
miasmic plains and fever-breedlng marshes into
healthful resorts, to alleviate moreover some OF
the worst ills which flesh is heir to, and further
to open countless sources OF wealth and industry.
may be regarded as an offspring of the great
French Revolution Could he (the discoverer)
in spirit now transport himself from one euca-
lyptus plantation to another, from Algeria to
CeylOn, from the Cape OF Good Hope to Spain,
New Zealand to the Riviera could he compare
the arIdness and unhealthfulness which bad been
with the verdure and ~salubrity now existing, he
might indeed feel a thrill of pride and gratitude
for the benefits conferred by his agency upon
mankind. Could he know how the ships now
crossing each other on the great ocean highways
transport precious bales of eucalyptus seeds to
all parts of the world, destined to make far off
wildernesses blossom as the rose, he might indeed
exclaim in the words OF the Roman poet
Our, regio in ferris nostri non plena laboris."
Such language may sound in the ears of Aus
tralians as somewhat bordering on extravaganza,
but a careful induction of facts seems to bear
it out and to elevate it into the domain of sober
truthfulness. The power of the various euca-
lypti to destroy miasma seems established beyond
a doubt by the Irresistible logic of experience in
various parts of the world, and in consequence
our trees have obtained a popularity which Is
ever on the increase. Foremost among the favor
ties is the Eucai. GiobuIuS, which has the three
fold merit of being easily raised from seed, of
growing very quickly, and OF producing a larger
amount Of the precious aroma. The most extern
sive experiments seem to have been carried on by
French colonists in Algeria, which has a climate
very similar to Australia. Algeria has suffered
frightiully from the cutting down of its native
forests since the occupation of the country by
Europeans not SO much by the settlers as by
the Arabs, and it's unhealthlness has proportion
ately increased. To remedy this state of things
the country is being transferred into a new Aus
tralia, the preference being given to the miocene
trees of this new world, because in addition to
their value as vegetation they have a peculiar
antagonism to all forms OF mIasma. 1t would be
well if the councillors of the City of Adelaide,
which ought not to have such a bad reputation
for unhealthiness, would ponder some of the facts
which have come to light on this subject. They
would then probably see how it is possible to
combine what il artistic with what is practically
useful, and to beautify our city while adding to
its charms. Deep drainage and groves oil euca-
/ lyptus in our streets and park lands might trans
form this city into the most salubrious as well as
the most beautiful in the group of Australian
capitals. We quote the following facts M.
Trettier says that since the growing up of his
plantations of gum trees no fever had occurred
except in two cases, which were mainly due TO
imprudence. Consul Playfairs report for 1877,
quoted in the Times, mentions a single mining
company having planted 100 900 trees at Mok-el-
HadIet. Previously the workmen could not re-
main there during the summer on account OF the
unhealthfulness of the place those who attempt
ed to do so died, and it was necessary to convey
the laborers to and fro by rail every morning.
Since the eucalyptus the workmen are able to
live on the spo: all the year round 1.-The COM
pany Of military engineers alone have planted a
large tract with 102 900 trees, now forming a
hOurishing young forest of eight years growth.
Similar experiments with similar success have
been made in Corsica, in Sicily, and IN ASIA
Minor. The eucalyptus is confidently looked up
on as the most potent ally that Great Britain
possesses IN taking possession OF the beautiful ana
romantic island of Cyprus, for once that poetic
land was noted for its s%alubrity, and its present
unhealthiness is entirely owing to the amount OF
waste and denuded land which exists there.
Many Italian patriots have a confident expecta-
ton that the Campagna which surrounds the
city OF Rome and which Is notorious tor Its
weird and fetid desolation, may be made once
more not only beautiful but salubrious If 1t be
planted and adorned with rows OF Australian
gumtrees.
1t is not suggested that all Australians have
been Indifferent to the value of our native tim
beers. Baron Won Muller in Melbourne has
wrought bard to bring them before the world,
and has persistently upheld their reputation. A
chemist of Melbourne, Mr.. BOsisto, has devoted
many years of his life to scientific experiments on
a large as well as on a small scale on the various
oils which can be obtained from the different
species of e~ucalypti, and has been rewarded by
worldwide success. Our own Forest Board has
taken the matter in hand. and is doing some
thing to conserve our forests from wauton de-
struction, though not as much as ought to be
done. The subject is one which interests all
alike. and it would be well If the numerous set
tiers in the sparsely timbered areas in the north
would especially turn their attention to it.
Healthiness, landscape beauty. and pecuniary
profit are the three rewards which await the