THE BLUE GUM.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2977, 10 January 1881, Page 3

THE BLUE GUM.

New Zealand readers ought to know hovir famous the blue gum is becoming at the other end of the world. The following is from the Naples correspondent of the Daily News:—" This healthful tree is destined to play a great part in the improvement of Italian soil. Senator Torelli, in his project for draining and improving the malaria districts through which so many Italian railway lines run, indicates the planting of the eucalyptus as a principal means to this end. Private persons and railway company's have made trial of various species of this tree, and in all cases the result has been most beneficial. In North Italy the eucalyptus amygdalina has succeeded well in exposed places. A most magnificent example of this species may be seen in the garden of Prince Troubtzkoi, near Intra. The tree is ten years old, and measures five feet in diameter, and about 60 feet in height. In 1870 the Railway Company Alta Italia planted 462 trees at Ventimiglia, since which time the sanitary condition of that place has greatly improved. At Santa Severa, one of the unhealthiest places, the globulus has already had a beneficial effect The largest field

of experiment, however, is the Tre Fontane, three kilometres outside Porta Ostiense, where the Trappist monks, aided by the State, have fought against the malaria. In 1868 the air, of this place, especially at the monastry, was so deadly that to pass a night there was to catch a fever. The monastry was known by the name of ' The Tomb.' In 1869-70 the Trappists made drains and planted the eucalyptus, going during four years, to pass their nights at Rome, in which space of time they lost 12 of their number by miasmatic fever. At the end of four years they could again sleep at ' Tbe Tomb,' and last year a large concession of territory was made to them, with the obligation that they should plant 100,000 eucalyptus trees in ten years. Senator Torelli defines the eucalyptus as a tatural pump . . and it is proved that it absorbs 10 times its own weight of water, which is returned to the atmosphere in the shape of vapours rich in camphor. A Captain Mignard, who was annoyed by the mosquitoes in Algeria, tried the effect of planting a small eucalyptus in a pot and placing it in his bedroom, and it drove them all away. It is proposed to make the planting of this tree in infected districts of Italy obligatory by law."