president's address. 631 



and centres of industry like Cobar and other mining districts is 

 already painfully felt. 



There is an impression that forestry does not pay. There is 

 certainly no greater mistake. The experiences of other countries 

 prove it. I find that in 1884 in Baden the area of the State 

 forests was 234,000 acres, producing a net return of £120,000 

 annually; in Wiirttemburgthe area was 476,000 acres, and the profit 

 derived was £237,400; while in Saxony, with a forest area of 

 408,000 acres, the net return was as high as £330,000. Perhaps 

 some might argue that although forests would pay in Europe, 

 under the different conditions prevailing here they would not; 

 but a little consideration will show that the conclusion is not 

 warranted. If our hardwood trees grow more slowly — which is, 

 however, not the case, at least on the coast— the produce is of 

 higher value; and in the interior, where from lack of moisture 

 they do grow slowly, the rental value of land is much lower. It 

 can, I think, be easily shown that forest cultivation on areas 

 which do not furnish abundant grass or herbage would produce 

 at least five times as much income from timber as from grazing. 

 Of course the Government would have to keep control of the 

 timber, and not merely for a small fee give a man a license to 

 destroy or cart away as much as he likes. 



Professor Bailey Balfour, in his Address to the Biological 

 Section of the British Association in 1894', gives an interesting 

 example of a piece of ground at Nover in Rossshire, which was 

 worth from one to two shillings grazing rent. This land was 

 planted with trees, and after 6 1 years of growth was clean cut in 

 1883. The net yield of the land over this period was equal to an 

 annual revenue of nine shillings per acre per annum. 



There are cases given in the United States Reports of worn- 

 out sandy land being planted with trees and yielding a profit of 

 twelve shillings and sixpence per acre per annum when cut for 

 fencing posts. 



Forest conservation means not that no trees shall be cut down, 

 but that the forests shall be cultivated as any other crop, and 

 not wasted. Steps should be taken to prevent the spread of fire 

 Q Q 



