St. Landry democrat., 1884-10-11
In an Australian Forests

All the world has heard OF tho big
STces in California, of which American,
ses proudly boast, telling us that they
are the biggest trees known; but it is
Hs3t everybody who believes that our
Australian colonies can point to trees in
the moist and rich valleys of the Aus
1rslian Alps that far sllrpass the Cali
fssruia giants in height though in girth
they fall far short, as the eucalyptus
, 1Eunk does not swell out toward the
bottom of the bale, and its bark, which
In most species is annually shed, is as
thin as that of the Wellingtonia e beg
oar American cousins pardon), Sequoia
Gig&ntea is abnormally thick. Austria
fi& is country of extremes; there are
tracts of hideous desolation. huge water
less plains which it is death to attempt
IN cross, for a thousand miles may be
4Eaversed without meeting one rivulet,
aHd for all this there are regions where
the soil is so rich and the rainfall so
ABUNDANT that vegetation may be found
still perpetuating the exuberant growth
and beauty of the epoch that filled our
coal measures. 1t is pretty thought
1that the myrtle we so prize, and which
grows wild so abundantly in Southern
Europe, is the sweet and sole ropresen-
ta1ive in our hemisphere of the great
family of eucalyptus, or gum tree,
which reaches to such colossal height
in the Southern Hemisphere, and all
TWho have smelt and appreciated the
scented air of an Australian forest enjoy
Eioublv the touch of astringency in the
perfume of crushed myrtle spray.
Comparisons. as Mrs. Malaprop tells
us, are .'odorous," so we will not do
more than hint at the baroness and
desoIation round the mighty boles of
&he Californian sequoias, whose tufted
branches cling so closely to the mighty
mast, that verdure or shade there is
none, so to say. Chow different is an
Australian forest where the giant white
or blue gums grow" True it is that
Che trunks tower up, may be two hum
dred and fifty feet, before they branch
into head that looks small to those
who are down below, yet that head
would be gigantic were it nearer our
ewes; true, also, that the leaves hang
vertically las do the branches of the
Bequoia), and so but little filtering of the
intense sunlight is accomplished by
them; but then instead of barrenness
beneath, we first have towering sassa-
-fras trees with dense evergreen foliage
and delicate Azara-like sprays of
growth, tipped with tiny pink bells;
next comes tall evergreen shrubs with
large and shining leaves as handsome
as any Bay tree or Portugal laurel; and
vet again the feathery heads of tree
s1erns IAlsophila or Dicksonia) fill up
the vacant spaces between each tree, till
the wonder is how SO much can grow
together In their turn, the tree
ferns are clad with MOSES and
filmy ferns, so that as you strug-
gle through this tangle, the last re-
manning survivors of vegetation of for
ner epochs explain mutely how in the
struggle for existence the most perfect
beauty exists only where the conditions
of life remain as they were first created;
destroy but one link or introduce some
too robustly constituted European weed,
and slowly, but surely, all this old
world beauty disappears. 1t is well.
then, to obtain and keep anything that
may give an idea, however small, of
that thing of beauty-an Australian for
est. In using the expression 'old |
world. +" Iwould explain, for fear of be-
ing misunderstood, that Australia, west
of the Alps or Blue Mountains, with the
most trifing exceptions, has never been
submerged, hence it is that the plants
of orr coal measures survive there
alone.
Another strange feature in the Austria
i forests is the indestructibility Of the
Lien trees, owing TO the hardness of
their wood, 50 that whole valleys may
'be found where the fallen trunks Of past
ages bridge over, as it were, with false
bottom, the streams that flow hidden
beneath. Covered with hymenophyl- |
lums, and even big tree ferns, the trav
.e1cr walks on boldly in ignorance Of the
pitfau below, till slip or a chance
peep into an opening reveals to him
the insecurity of his position. Such
moist and dark recesses are the haunt |
of many a snake, and woe be to that
stranger who unwarily should fall into
those airless and Shiny regions. Per-
haps, save for this, it were too like
Eden. Garden.