This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.
As many portions of California are treeless on account of the long summer drouth, the introduction of the eucalypti, of many varieties, from Australia, has been worth millions of dollars to the State. In the first place, these trees, after being started, will thrive remarkably through our dry seasons; they grow so straight and tall and so close together that they will produce more timber per acre than almost any other tree, and both timber and fuel will always be in demand where forests are scarce. in many of our valleys or low bill lands, which only a few years ago were treeless, now may be seen small clumps, and not infrequently extensive areas of the tall eucalyptus giving to our landscapes, formerly so bare of trees, an appearance not unlike that of eastern landscapes.
Many citizens have learned by experiment that a eucalyptus grove, especially if reasonably near a market, is often more profitable, acre for acre, than a vineyard or fruit orchard. The trees grow very rapidly, straight as arrows, from fifty to seventy-five feet high or more, which permits of their being planted closer together than any other trees; their height, quick growth, and nearness together, combined with their excellence as fuel, and the fact that they may be cut down as often as every five years, when they will grow again as thriftily as before, make them take rank as one of the most desirable class of trees that can be grown in this country of annual wet and dry seasons. The first blue-gum grove planted in this immediate section was set out in Castro valley in 1869, although the tree itself, or the seed, as an experiment, was brought here sometime before that.
The eucalyptus also yields oils or balsams; and its roots, it is commonly believed, extract malaria from swampy soils, rendering them more or less innocuous.
There is another incidental benefit to be derived from eucalyptus, or any other forests, which ought not to be overlooked, especially in a country of dry summers like ours.
Although neither mountain ranges nor dense forests will cause the moisture-laden air currents, which bring rain, to blow from the south, nevertheless, when in winter from other causes the currents do come, forests and mountains aid in extracting or precipitating their aqueous burden. In other words, without being in the remotest degree the original cause of rain, or the coming of the southerly winds which bring it, they do aid, when those moisture-bringing currents come, in increasing the amount of precipitation. Air currents heavily ladened with moisture, in passing through dense forests, must unload or discharge their burden more rapidly, because of both the obstruction and the lower temperature they encounter, than they would in passing over an arid, unobstructed plain, or a desert; as for similar reasons, as everyone knows, the rainfall is very much greater on the windward side of high, snow covered mountain ranges, than it is on their leeward side or even on the level plain.
As the eucalyptus will thrive during our summer droughts, when most other trees will perish unless cultivated or irrigated, its value to California can not he computed. Its great value is bound to be more and more appreciated.
The Eucalyptus, which grows all over California, and is an object of curiosity to the Eastern visitors, belongs to the myrtle tribe. There are 150 varieties of the tree. They are Hawaiian islands, and have already been introduced into most of the tropical and temperate countries of the world.
Two kinds have been chiefly cultivated in California, the red gum, resinifera, and the blue gum, globulus, which is the better known. It is famous for its rapid growth. as it often makes an increase in height of from six to nine feet in one year. The tree continues growing at this rate until it has reached an enormous size.
In 1862, it is said, an Australian merchant desired to send to the London exhibition a specimen of the large-growth Eucalyptus, but no ship could be found long enough to carry the giant.
The products of this tree are numerous and varied. The wood is said to be valuable for carpenters' and builders' uses. The gum or resin is employed in the manufacture of soaps, perfumes, lozenges, court-plaster, liniments, syrups, pomades, toilet vinegars, as well as many preparations used for artistic purposes, such as varnishing oils, veneer, and tracing paper. There has been for some years established in Paris a store for the sale of Eucalyptus perfumery.
But by far the most valuable and important property of this tree is its power of correcting malaria. This quality is, perhaps, due to the aromatic oil which the tree contains, or more probably to the drainage effected by its roots. It has been proved in many countries in which the tree has been planted. In Algeria the cultivation of the nearly all natives of Australia and the tree has rendered many low-lying or marshy districts inhabitable, where, in the early years of French occupation, foreigners could not live on account of deadly fevers.
The Eucalyptus was first planted in California in 1858, and now there are thought to be not less than 10,000,000 of these trees in this State, each from fifty to sixty feet in height.
This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.
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