630 president's address. 



a fancy to ironbark, could we supply their wants ? The number 

 required to fit up all the lines would be— say, 540 millions, so that 

 we should only have a third of that quantity, neglecting our own 

 requirements. England and Europe, too, possess an enormous 

 mileage, and might come upon us for supplies ; but, as is seen, we 

 simply could not meet them. Then what right have we to talk 

 about encouraging a large export trade until we take steps to 

 increase the natural productiveness of our forests ? 



In another State Report of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture — namely, that on the " Forest Conditions of the 

 Rocky Mountains, 1889 " — there is a paper by Dr. E J. Janus, 

 which is remarkable as bearing upon the question of the value of 

 forest culture which is so much neglected or ignored. It is 

 scarcely necessary to remark that the Rocky Mountains are the 

 home of some of the principal mining industries in the United 

 States, and are in the centre of an arid region which, except for 

 the streams arising from the melting of the snow on the heights, 

 has little water to depend upon. Therefore, Dr. Janus' observa- 

 tions, which are made with special reference to this region, are 

 particularly worth attention : — 



" The forests of any large country bear a peculiar relation to 

 material prosperity. They not only constitute a large j)roportion 

 of the national wealth of a nation, but they form the independent 

 basis of a flourishing agricultural, manufacturing and commercial 

 industry. They are, moreover, one of the most important elements 

 in determining the climatic condition of any given region, and 

 through these the distribution of population, of industrial pursuits 

 and of disease and health." He goes on to say that " the value 

 of the forests is greater than all the metals, coal, petroleum, stone, 

 and all the steamboats, vessels, &c., plying in American waters 

 and belonging to citizens of the United States." He complains 

 that practically nothing is done to protect or to cultivate, a 

 statement which equally applies to this country, and yet three- 

 quarters of the population use wood as a fuel. In the Australian 

 bush there is at present an apparently unlimited supply of fuel, 

 yet the scarcity of it in the neighbourhood of the larger towns 



