THE USEFUL EUCALYPTUS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 44, 6 October 1911, Page 2

THE USEFUL EUCALYPTUS.

For twenty years the curator of. the Sydney Technological Museum, Mr R. T. Baker, and the assistant curator, Mr H. G. Smith, have been investigating the properties of Australian trees. Mr Baker is a botanist and Mr Smith a chemist, and between them they have done wonderful work in revealing the economic possibilities of the eucalyptus and Australian pines. To-ilay eucalyptus oil is assisting the nfiining industry. ‘ .The oil is used in'the.''“flotation process” of extracting copper, lead, silver, zinc and other sulphides from tailings, and tons of oil are' beihji distilled every week to supply a growing l demand at Broken Hill and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, *' By means of such researches as : those of Messrs Baker and Smith the various kinds' of eucalyptus have been classified and the cheapest and most suitable oil has been discovered. The two investigators believe that the production of oil for mining purposes will become a big industry, as there is sufficient natural material in New South Wales alone to produce ten tons of oil a week. At the Technological Museum new substances which some day may lie turned to practical use, are being separated continually. One of these, called quercetin, is being tried in Europe as a base for making dyes. Eucalyptus oil has been found to contain gcraniol, which is used in perfumery, and is likely to become a very valuable product. Some kinds of eucalyptus are useful for tanning purposes, and oxalic acid and turpentine are produced from it, while we are all familiar with the oil in the guise of a pharmaceutical remedy. At present Mi' Smith is conducting the most interesting investigations ho has ’ undertaken. Ho and Mr Baker have proved that the clastic substance found on young eucalyptus shoots is india-rubber. They .have found also on eucalyptus leaves a white powder which, they aro convinced, is rubber oxidised by contact with air and sunlight. Mr Smith says that it would not pay to extract rubber from gum leaves, but if tiie white powder is “half-way towards rubber” it may be induced to complete the journey. If his investigations give him a clue to the constiuonts of the powdery oxide, he may bo aide to solve a problem that, has baffled countless searchers, the production of artificial rubber.