I am informed that there are upwards of forty species of these gum trees of Australia in cultivation in California. Of these, the blue-gum, or Eucalyptus globulus is by far the most common, and is the most valuable tree to the state. To the "tender-foot" it is a surprise in all its features, as well as somewhat of a curiosity botanically. We are at first surprised at its truly wonderful rate of growth. I am informed by several reliable people that there is a blue-gum in Monterey county which was transplanted at one year old six years ago, and that it is now a little over one hundred feet in height. There is one in sight from the window where I write a little over ninety feet high, and which, I am assured, is only nine years old from the seed. These do not seem to be exceptional cases. Nearly all Californians fail to see the wonderful value of this tree to the state, and what a tremendous income could be derived from it by planting large areas of it for fuel alone at certain points. Take Los Angeles, for instance, where firewood ranges in price from $12 to $30 a cord, and where firewood must always be high.

One can hardly estimate the value of 160 acres of blue-gum planted on the wonderfully deep, rich, moist soil directly west of the city toward San Pedro. Here land can be found which is too wet for cultivation, but of exceeding richness, and therefore exactly suited to the culture of this tree.

This tree should also be extensively planted on the low moist soils of the Atlantic sea-board wherever the wild bitter orange will thrive. It is a fact that it reclaims wet land and prevents malaria, by draining the land with its roots, and the resinous fragrance thrown off by its foliage is wholesome. We see the gums in all their glory at San Rafael, near San Francisco, where the Hon. William A. Colman has planted 70,000 trees, largely is. globulus. The thinnings of the groves are already giving him a large income. Two large street trees were cut directly across the street from where I now write, and I measured the growth with a rule, and the last year's layer of wood on both trees was in places four inches in thickness, and the thinnest place I could find it was two inches. These were ordinary street trees, without special advantages or cultivation. These facts give an idea of the growth of this most wonderful tree. It is an evergreen, with very dark-green lanceolate curved leaves, drooping, hanging edgewise to the sky, 6 to 12 inches in length, closely resembling the leaves of the peach.

On young trees and on the new shoots, where trees have been cut back, the leaves are of a much lighter or glaucous shade of green, are much wider and rounded at the point, and are placed opposite on the twigs, with the wings of the leaves large, nearly surrounding the twigs; the twigs are four-sided, with sharp angles, while older twigs are round and smooth. In fact, to cut twigs from the two growths on the same tree, it would be hard to made one believe that they were from the same species. The eucalypti will withstand about 150 of frost without injury, and perhaps 200 to 250 without material injury. Some species are hardier than others. E. globulus is neither handsome or pretty, but may be called grand or noble. It is strongly fastigiate, much like the Lombardy poplar. The older bark is strongly deciduous, peeling off at all times in long thin strips. E. glob-ulus and the Monterey cypress are the two trees everywhere present in California where man has made a home. - D. B. Wier, California.