Oct. i, iii'66,\ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICOLTUKIST. 



Hy 



"^■^HiB^SHfi 



AUSTRALIAN FORESTS. 



bV UiiNKY I'. JlOOKJi, FKOJlJi, S0MEK8ET. 



So much of the Australian continent remains un- 

 explored that the approximate area of its forest lands 

 cannot be even conjectured. One thing is certain, 

 however, and that is, that a much smaller portion 

 of its surface relatively .speaking is wooded thaa wos 

 the case on the North American continent when it 

 was first colonized bj' Europeans. Nevertheless, it 

 and the neighbouring islands of Tasmania and New 

 Zealand contain immerse forests of valuable timber 

 for both constructive and oinamentiil purposes. These 

 are described hi a recent report to the American 

 Government. There are 150 varieties of the Evcah/ptus 

 or gam tree, some of them attaining a gigantic height, 

 as, for example, the Eucalypt-us ami/gdalina, which has 

 been known to reach an altitude "of 480 feet. The 

 specific gravity of the Eticali/ptv.s rostrata, or red gum, 

 which is largely used for railway sleepers, nearly 

 equals that of the oak, while it is capable of sus- 

 taining a much greater pressure to the square inch 

 than either oak or teak. In point of durability the 

 harder varieties of the Eucal>/2>tus will last four times 

 as long as the former. Many of the Australian trees, 

 ns, for example, the Eucali/pfus botryokles the Cedrela 

 toona,* the black-wood, and the Erenela endlichcri, or 

 Cypress pine, and the numerous indigenous cedars, are 

 beautiful in grain and colour and take a fine polish. 

 The Kauri pine of New Zealand, which, with a 

 diameter at the base ranging from io to 20 feet, at- 

 tains to the height of 160 feet, and often jiresents 

 a columnar trunk of 100 feet without a branch, is 

 much prized for its timber by the shipbuilder, the 

 miner, the railway engineer, and the cabinetmaker. 

 What renders it exceptionally valuable is that it 

 exudes a gum almost equal to copal, the choicer 

 qualities of which will sometimes command from 584 

 to 730 dollars per ton in the London market. The 

 rurin or red pine, an ornamental as well as useful 

 timber, some of it resembhng rosewood, though ol: a 

 lighter brown colour, is largely used in the manufac- 

 ture of furniture. With the totara, a durable and 

 clean-grained wood, not unlike cedar in apijearance, 

 the Maoris made their largest canoes, and almost in- 

 variably constructed the palisading of their "pahs." 

 The forest trees of Western Australia claim special 

 attention on account of their useful and valuable pro- 

 perties. Among these may be mentioned the tuart 

 {Eiiculyptiiff ijoiiiiihocepluda), an extremely hard heavy, 

 and close-grained wood, which furnishes the strongest 

 timber known, its transverse strength jier square inch 

 being 2701 as compared with the English oak, which 

 is 2-117, or the Indian teak, which is 2'20;). Hence 

 it is extremely valuable for shipbuilding purposes. 

 The karri {Eucalyptus diver sicolor), also highly prized 

 for its timber, attains to colossal dimensions, some- 

 times measuring O'O feet in circumference at the base, 

 while its tall and shapely trunk rises to the height 

 of 300 feet without a single limb. The jarrif {Eucalyp- 

 tus marfjiaata), which resists successfully the attacks 

 of both the white ant and the Teredo iiavalis, is un- 

 surpassed for the durability of its timber. Specimens 

 oi jarrah piles, after being exposed between wind and 

 water for over forty years, are still found to be in 

 an almost perfect state of preservation. According 

 to the Director of the Botanical Gardens at Sydney, 

 uo country has been favoured by nature with a 

 greater variety and abundance of trees yielding strong, 

 beautiful, and durable timbers, than the colony of 

 New South Wales. Its magnificent forests contain 

 woods valuable alike to the cabinetmaker and the 

 shipbuilder, including such timbers as the different 

 species of the Eucalyptus, the red cedar, turpentine, 

 rosewood, mountain a.sh, and tulip-wood, mo.st of which 

 are beautiful in grain, rich in colour, and susceptible 

 of a high polish. (Queensland is richly endowed with 

 immense tracts of forest lauds, furnishiug large quan- 

 tities of valuable timber, and indirectly supplying the 



*What is known in India fln<i Oylon as thf Tdoi'i 

 tree.— En. 

 fjarrah.— Ed. 



soil with an abundance of rain.* The enormous fig 

 trees and gigantic Eucalypti tower aloft and spread 

 out their great arms, festooned with vines and flower- 

 ing paras^ites, which throw themselves over every 

 spreading branch, and deck it with their varied and 

 brilliant colours ; the tall pine trees, the cedar, the 

 myrtle, the rosewood, and tamarind trees are also 

 forest representatives. — Journal of Forestry. 



THE CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN 



IRELAND, 

 lu an article on this subject in the iVatioiud Review 

 Mr. R. Staples says that upon the revolt of the Ameri 

 can colonies, for the double purpose of punishing the 

 Virginia planters and trying to win the affections 

 of the Irish, the Government of Lord North made 

 it lawful to grow and cure tobacco in Ireland. There 

 can be no question that in certain districts where the 

 soil was suitable large profits were earned. The county 

 of Wexford, ami the neighbourhood of Enuiscorthy 

 in particular, was the most favoured spot in this res- 

 pect. A young man from Enuiscorthy had been over 

 to Maryland, anl on his return brought with him 

 some seed, and encouraged his brother to venture on 

 it, and from' half an acre 100^. had once been pro- 

 duced. Holding a farm of sixteen acres this man made 

 a profit of 1,200^. in seven years. It is frequently 

 asserted that the climate is unsuited to tobacco, and 

 that it cannot be profitably cultivated, but in face of 

 the weight of evidence existing to show that a profit 

 used once to be obtained from its growth this objection 

 cannot be considered of much value. In any case, 

 the abolition of an artificial restriction would soon 

 prove the truth or fallacy of this assertion, for, if it 

 cannot be produced at a profit to compete with 

 foreign tobacco on equal terms, tobacco, like wheat, 

 would again cease to be cultivated. The farmer would 

 soon prove to be the best judge of the profit or loss 

 derived from the transaction. One objection, no doubt, 

 is that it is an exhausting crop to the soil ; but the 

 same objection, only in a lesser degree, applies to flax, 

 which has been for many years past the mainstay 

 of industry in Ulster. And, as tobacco can now be 

 cured by steam, the influence of the weather on the 

 process of curing is of less importance than formerly. 

 The climate and soil appear to be as well adapted to 

 it as they are to the potato, which was introduced 

 at the same time and from the same source. Some 

 short time since an interesting paper on the subject 

 of the cultivation of tobacco was read in Dublin by 

 Mr. J. A. Walker, at a meeting of the Statistical and 

 Social Inquiry Society of Ireland. The writer of 

 that paper, who, like many others, is fully alive to 

 the necessity of finding some new employment for the 

 unoccupied agricultural population, had taken the 

 trouble to communicate with several gentlemen, both 

 in Ireland and America, who are intimately acquainted 

 with the conditions necessary to the successful grow- 

 ing and curing of the plant. According to the test- 

 imony of one of his correspondents a statute acre 

 should produce two and a half tons of dried tobacco, 

 and if, after paying all expenses, the farmer should 

 only realise a profit of ^d. per pound, it would amount 

 to over -Wl. per acre. Another estimate i.>laced the 

 Ijrofit to be derived at not upwards of 231, per acre, 

 but all accounts agr^e that a good and substantial 

 profit would be realised. In France the expense of 

 cultivating a hectare of land, nearly two acres, with 

 tobacco, is stated by M. Joubert (Tabac) to be about 

 o'2l. Id. 8d., and the average produce to be 86/. 5s. 

 leaving 54/. 3s. -id. for profit to the French farmer, 

 while even more can be made in successful season.s. 

 The collection of the excise duties in France is not 

 surrounded with any .special difficulties, and it is not 

 easy to see why it should be otherwise in Ireland. 

 In the year 1870, the latest for which there is any. 



* The mountains have more to do with the rain 

 than the trees, amongst which the Toon I'red cedar^ 

 and the A i!n!Cit:ia Bidirillit, the latttr preserved for the 

 sake of the cones, on which the natives fatten, ought 

 to have beeu specially mentioned,— Ed. 



