Page:On the characters, properties, and uses of Eucalyptus globulus and other species of Eucalyptus.djvu/12

 duction of the Eucalyptus trees into the neighbourhood, the fact is unquestionable, and is now testified to in various parts of the world. Thus at the Cape, in a very few years, the cultivation of the Eucalyptus has completely changed the climatic condition of the unhealthy parts of that colony; and in Algeria, where it has been tried on a large scale in a district previously noted for its pestilential air and consequent prevalence of fever, not a single case now occurs, although the trees are not more than 9 feet high; and in the neighbourhood of Constantia it is also stated that at another noted fever-spot covered with marsh-water both in winter and summer, in five years the whole district was dried up by 14,000 of these trees, and the inhabitants now enjoy excellent health. In Cuba, again, marsh-diseases are fast disappearing from the unhealthy districts where this tree has been introduced. In the Department of the Var it is also said that a station-house situated at one end of a railway viaduct, so pestilential that the officials could not be kept there longer than a year, is now as healthy as any other place on the line, in consequence of the planting of a few Eucalyptus trees. Numerous other instances might be cited to the same effect as having occurred in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and other parts of the world; and we cannot doubt therefore that although the effects have been to some extent probably exaggerated, the statements are substantially correct, and that this tree does possess a most beneficial effect in neutralizing and improving the malarious influence of marshy districts, and that attempts should be therefore made to introduce it into those regions where the climatic influences are favourable for its growth and development. Several of the districts into which it has been so introduced have been already noticed and others suggested, so that it is unnecessary to allude further to it here; but we now proceed to allude briefly, as our time will only allow of this, to the other properties and uses of this tree and of other species of Eucalyptus.

In the first place we may state that the timber of many species of Eucalyptus is of very great value, and is largely used throughout the Australian colonies. The great length of planks obtained from such trees has been already mentioned; and those of the Eucalyptus globulus and other species are most excellent for ship-building. The timber of several species is remarkable for its solidity, hardness, and durability, and from its power of resisting the attacks of insects and the teredo, as also the influence of moisture. Such qualities render it peculiarly valuable for many useful purposes, as, for