The St. Charles herald., 1884-12-06


so proudly boast, telling us that rney
are the biggest trees known; but 1t is
not everybody who believes that our
Australian colonies can point to trees In
the moist and rich valleys OF the Aus
tralian Alps that far surpass the Cali
fornia giants in height, though in girth
they fall far short, as the eucalyptus
trunk does not swell out toward the
bottom of the bale, and its bark, which
in most species is annually shed, is az
thin as that of the Wellingtonia l beg
our American cousins pardon), Sequoia
gigantea is abnormslly thick. Austria
liza is a country OF extremes; there are
tracts of hideous desolation, huge water
less plains which it is death to attempt
to cross, for q thousand miles may be
traversed without meeting one rivulet,
and 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
that the myrtle we SO prize, and which
grows wild so abundantly in Southern
Europe, is the sweet and sole represen-
tative in our hemisphere of the great
family of eucalyptus, or gum tree,
which reaches to such colossal height
in the Southern Hemisphere, and all
who have smelt and appreciated the
scented air of an Australian forest enjoy
doubly the touch of astringency in the
perfume of a crushed myrtle spray.
Comparisons, as Mrs. Malaprop tells
us, are "odorous," so we will not do
more than hint at the baroness and
desolation round the mighty boles OF
the Californian sequoias, whose tufted
branchlets cling so closely to the mighty
mast, that verdure or shade there is
none, so to say. "How different is an
Australian forest where the giant white
or blue gums grow" True it is that
the trunks tower up, may be two hum
dred and fifty feet, before they branch
into a head that looks small to those
who are down below, yet that head
would be gigantic were it nearer our
eyes; true, also, that the leaves hang
vertically (as do the branches of the
seuuoia), and so but little tiltering 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; anc
vet again the feathery heads of tret
ferns (Alsophila or Dicksonia) fill uI
the vacant spaces between each tree, til
the wonder 10 how SO much can grow
together In their turn, the tre'
ferns are clad with MOSES ant
filmy ferns, so that as you strug
gle through this tangle, the last re
manning survivors of vegetation of for
mer epochs explain mutely how in tn
struggle for existence the most perfec
beauty exists only where the condition
of life remain as they were first created
destroy but one link or introduce som
too robustly constituted European weed
and slowly, but surely, all this oil,
world beauty disappears. 1t is we'll
: then, to obtain and keep anything tha
may give an idea, however small, o
that thing of beauty-an Australian for
est In using the expression .'ol'
world" would explain, for fear of be
ing misunderstood, that Australia, ives
of the Alps or Blue Mountains, with tn
most trihing exceptions, has never bee
submerged hence it is that the plant
I of our coal measures survive ther
alone.
! Another strange feature in the Austrs
+ Han forests is the indestructibility of Tn
: fallen trees, owing to theshArdaess a
: their wood, so that whole valleys ma
: be found where the fallen trunks of pas
, ages bridge over, as it were, with falls
bottom, the streams that flow hidde
beneath. Covered with hymenophy
lums, and even big tree ferns, the tray
eler walks on boldly in ignorance of tn
pitfall below, till slip or a chanc
peep into an opening reveals to hir
the insecurity of his position. Sue
moist and dark recesses are the haur
. of many snake, and woe be to tn;
stranger who unwarily should fall int
: those airless and Shiny regions. Pc
I haps, save for this, it were too Lii
Eden.-London Garden.