H. N. Draper

“ From this time, much care is required in weeding and particularly in sheltering from the wind, for the stem of the eucalyptus is particularly fragile, and violent storms sometimes rage in the Campagna. The other great enemy of the tree is cold, and this offers an almost insurmountable obstacle to its successful culture in Great Britain. It seems to be well proved that most of the species will survive a winter in which the temperature does not fall lower than 23° Fahr. ”

“ If we except the quaint and bright costumes of many classes of the people, and the ever-changing street scenes of Rome, there is nothing in the drive of very much interest until we reach the river. Here, looking back, we see the noble structure which crowns the Capitoline Hill. ”

“ Now, peroxide of hydrogen is—being itself one of the most potent oxidizers known—a very active disinfectant; and, as the leaves of some species of eucalyptus contain in each hundred pounds from three to six pounds of essential oil, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the oxygen-carrying property of the oil is an important element in the malaria-destroying power of the genus. ”

“ At Tre Fontane are cultivated at least eleven varieties of eucalyptus. Some of these, as E. viminalis and E. botryoïdes, flourish best where the ground is naturally humid; E. resinifera and E. meliodora love best a drier soil. The variety Globulus (blue gum-tree) possesses a happy adaptability to nearly any possible condition of growth. At the monastery, as in most elevated parts of the Campagna, the soil is of volcanic origin, and there is not much even of that; often only eight, and rarely more than sixteen inches overlying the compact tufa. ”

“ But cold is the deadly enemy of the gum-tree; and, though I had kept mine during four ordinary Irish winters, I lost them all during the almost Arctic winter of 1878-'79. I may say, in passing, that I have not been quite discouraged, and that I have again several healthy plants making good progress. My interest in the subject has received a new stimulus from a recent experience of eucalypt-culture in the wild plain known as the Campagna of Rome. ”

“ There is one aspect of it, however, which can not perhaps be dwelt upon too much, and that is the value of this genus of plants as drainers of the soil and purifiers of the atmosphere. This is probably the true reason why so many attempts, more or less successful, have been made to acclimatize the eucalyptus in Southern Europe and even in Great Britain. No doubt, experiments have been stimulated by other causes. ”

“ Other trees of eight years' growth were fifty feet high and nearly three feet in circumference at their largest part. These figures refer to Eucalyptus globulus, which certainly grows faster than the other species; and it must be remembered that in warmer climates the growth is even still more rapid. I have seen, for example, trees of Eucalyptus resinifera at Blidah in Algeria which at only five years old were already quite sixty feet high. ”

“ The leaves are as a rule narrow, and have either a very short and twisted petiole or foot-stalk, or none at all. In Australia they commonly attain a height of two hundred feet, and instances are given in which a height of three hundred and fifty feet has been attained. ”