6^6 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



results should be made known. Crown property and sur- 

 rounding land should first be dealt with, and the inquiries 

 should then be extended to areas where conditions are thought 

 likely to be favourable, and the possible acquisition of a work- 

 able area of land by the State least difficult. The collection of 

 information would in no way preclude planting from proceeding 

 as suitable areas were made available ; indeed, the experience 

 would be of the greatest value in future surveys if the staff 

 employed for the earlier were also employed to supervise the 

 later planting operations. In this way no time would be lost in 

 making a start, work could be gradually extended as opportunity 

 offered and as the supply of skilled labour increased and forests 

 became available, and there would be less chance of those 

 failures which must be feared if the ideal complete and sym- 

 metrical scheme is aimed at from the start. Another great 

 advantage will be the better position of Government to judge to 

 what extent private initiative can be counted on and how the 

 deterrents now complained of can best be overcome. 



Having outlined the procedure to be followed, it is necessary 

 to consider the question of species and treatment best calculated 

 to produce large quantities of serviceable timber. 



The selection of species is a matte"r which can only be 

 decided after careful observation of the conditions of each 

 locality to be dealt with. Climate must be carefully considered, 

 and not, as is so often the case, the decision based almost entirely 

 on the nature of the soil, or possibly even fancy for a particular 

 species. It is not within the scope of this paper to go into the 

 requirements of each of the indigenous forest trees or species 

 the introduction of which may be said to have passed the ex- 

 perimental stage, but a list may be given of the more important 

 ones in order of the amount of warmth required for their best 

 development. The order must be understoodlto be only roughly 

 relative and indicative of the species suited from the warmest 

 localities in the United Kingdom to where the limit of tree 

 growth is reached: 



Chestnut {Castanea vesca), Oaks {Qiiercits sessiliflora and Q. 

 pedunculata), Ash {Fraxinus excelsior), Hornbeam {Carpinus 

 Betidus\ Corsican Pine {Pinus Laricio), Austrian Pine {Pinus 

 austriaca), Beech {Fagiis sylvatica), Douglas Fir {Pseudotsuga 

 Doiiglash), Picea Sikkaensis, Scotch Fir {Pinus sylvestris), Pinus 

 Banksiana, Willows {Snlix spp.). Birches {Bctula spp.), Alders 



