174 THE PLANT WOELD 



Bulletin; and we hope that sufficient pledges of financial support may 

 be received to insure the re-publication. From the standpoint of the 

 bibliophile alone the opportunity is an important one, since this num- 

 ber of the suspended journal can never be obtained hereafter, and will 

 become rarer with each succeeding year. 



In our advertising pages of this issue will be found a full price list 

 of the Bulletin, with a synopsis of its leading contents during the eight 

 vears of its existence. — Publishers of The Plant World. 



Australian Forests. 



The importance of forest conservation is beginning to receive in- 

 creased attention in Australia, where the revenue from the state forests 

 remains considerably below that obtained in countries possessing far 

 less wealth of timber. In New South Wales, according to Mr. Coghlan, 

 forests, contrarj^ to the popular idea in Europe and America, extend 

 over almost the whole area of the State, excepting portions of the Mo- 

 naro, the Lachlan, the JVIurrumbidgee districts, and the trans-Darling 

 region, where extensive treeless plains occur, clothed wdth salt-bush, 

 scrub, or species of natural grasses. The country covered by timber 

 may be divided into three classes — open, bnish, and scrub forests. The 

 first of these cover the greater portion of the surface of the State, and 

 are found in every formation. The trees met with are chiefly species 

 of Eucalyptus, Angophora, and other genera of the family Myrtaceae. 

 The prevalence of the eucalypti, and the large extent covered by the 

 forests, give the country a rather monotonous aspect; but the park-like 

 appearance of the open forests, and the beauty of the many flowering 

 shrubs, win admiration in spite of the sameness of the trees, while even 

 the dull, greyish-blue of the foliage of the gum tree, when relieved by 

 the yellow blossoms of the wattle, including the graceful myall, or the 

 beautiful and shapely kurrajong, is not without its attractiveness. The 

 trees, are, for the most part, straight and cylindrical in the trunk, and 

 when full grown, their first branch is a considerable height from the 

 ground. The roots of the eucalyptus often lie at no great distance from 

 the surface soil, an adaptation of nature to the peculiar climatic condi- 

 tions of the country. The finest specimens of most of the timber trees, 

 those yielding the most valuable timber, are found on ridges and hill- 

 sides, in places frequently too rough and stony for cultivation. This 

 circumstance is in many ways fortunate for the State. In the course 

 of settlement, when the rich plains are denuded of their trees, and when 

 scarcity will make timber more appreciated than it is at present, land 

 not adapted for agricultural settlement will still be available for the 

 cultivation of the finest trees. Among the many trees of commercial 



