AN (ECOLOGICA[; SUKVEY OF THR MIDLANDS OP NATAL. 5o9 



About the second year the trees are high enough to shade 

 and kill the weeds. Grasses, if the ploughing has been care- 

 fully done, should not be present, but veiy often they are, for 

 a time, completely dominant. In this case there is great 

 danger from fire. 



After the third or fourth year the grasses disappear and 

 the whole plantation consists of wattle Avithout any under- 

 growth. Nothing could be barer of under vegetation than a 

 wattle plantation. As a rule there is not a single plant to be 

 found other than the wattle itself. 



In about seven years the trees are cut down and the bark 

 stripped. The timber is removed and the branches and 

 general debris that remain scattered over the ground are 

 burned. Mixed with this rubbi.sh are plentv of seeds, and 

 these germinate among the ashes. The plantation thus 

 renews itself and the process is repeated every seven years. 



(2) Blue Gums. 

 The other plantations are insignificant in extent as compared 

 with wattle. There are plantations of Blue Gum (Eucalyptus 

 globulus) and other Eucalyptus spp. The seeds are 

 usually sown in boxes or tins, and the seedlings planted out 

 when they are from three to six inches high. The trees are 

 not cut" down, as a rule, till they reach a diameter of twelve 

 inches. The time varies greatly, but this stage is rarely 

 reached before the twelfth year. 



(3) Pines. 

 There are also small plantations of Pin us insignis and 

 Pin us pinaster, and a great number of exotic trees are 

 grown around Maritzburg and elsewhere for ornamental 

 purposes. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



Natal is a country which, owing to its physical configuration 

 and the steep rise from the sea to the Drakensberg, shows 



