THE BLUE GUM IN CEYLON.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 273, 27 April 1875, Page 4

THE BLUE GUM IN CEYLON.

A correspondent in the Ceylon Times gives the following particulars about the Eucalyptus globulus, or Australian blue gumtree, in New Zealand and Ceylon. " I lived for a number of years in New Zealand," he writes; " the province was very wet indeed, and colonial fever, or, as it is called in Ceylon, jungle fever, for they are exactly the same, was very prevalent among the inhabitants, myself among them. After some years I left New Zealand and took up my residence in Victoria, in a part densely wooded with gum-trees, and during the years I lived there I only had one attack of colonial fever, which happened in a year remarkable for drought, when stock died off by thousands, the trees were stripped of their bark, and 10 per cent of them were snuffed out altogether. During that season fever was a common complaint throughout the district, and those who took the trouble to think at all on the subject came to the conclusion that the appearance of the fever was due to the absence of the volatile exhalations from the gum-leaves. Of course, it is well known that the eucalypti shed their bark and not their leaves, so that the fact of fever visiting the district at a time when the trees had been stripped of their leaves by drought drew people's attention to the subject, the more especially as at the very time the local papers were teeming with arguments as to whether the eucalyptus was a fever destroyer or not. Again, when the Wakatip goldfields were opened up in 1863 fever was a perfect scourge in the district, but about a year or eighteen months afterwards it was a rare thing to hear of a case. I attribute the disappearance of the disease to the number of gum trees planted in the district as a protection against the wind ; this kind of tree being chosen on account of its rapid growth. Nowhere have I seen a stronger proof of the rapid growth of these trees than in the lower Taieri plains of Otago, where I have seen trees three years old from thirty to forty feet high, and these plains, which when I saw them first were destitute of timber, are now dotted over with clumps of magnificent blue gums ; to these, 1 believe, must be attributed the dryness of the soil, compared with its former condition, the quantity of moisture they absorb from

the soil being enormous. Those who were among the early arrivals in Hokitika will remember how prevalent fever and ague were there. Now how different it is. One seldom hears of a case of fever except among those diggers who have pushed into the interior of the country, where swampy ground and decaying vegetation are the predominating features. Taking it for granted, then, that the eucalyptus is a fever-destroying tree, it might be made useful in Ceylon by planting it round the coolie lines or Doras bungalows on the coffee estates, and I have no doubt the effect would be felt in a short time. The two varieties which I am inclined to think would do best here are the stringy bark and iron bark, as they are generally found growing in sandy or rocky soil in their native state, where they attain a great height, often of 220 feet. These trees are not so beautiful, nor do they grow to the size of Ihe blue gum; but I am certain that they will grow better in the average soil of Ceylon."