636 president's address. 



out. The timber of this spscies is now accepted as teredo-resisting^ 

 and is being largely planted under Mr. Gill's directions. Mr. 

 Gill says : — "To give you some little idea as to size of timber 

 grown within 20 years, I may state that poles lately cut by me 

 for telegraph purposes, and disposed of to the Telegraph Depart- 

 ment, measured 26 feet 6 inches long, and were 7 in. to 8 in.- 

 top diameter, and 11 in. to 14 in. bottom diameter. They 

 contained from 8 and 9 to 1 7 and 1 8 cubic feet of timber, and this 

 is irrespective of other parts of the tree, which generally totalled 

 from 60 to 70 (or even over) feet in length." 



It is apparent from the above that where the climate is favour- 

 able the growth of trees is quite sufficiently rapid to justify large 

 expectation of profit. In the interior growth is necessarily much 

 slower, but must still be noticeable. The comparatiA^e rate of 

 growth, as compared with trees on the coast, may be assumed to 

 be roughly proportioned to the moisture of the ground, all other 

 things being equal; and it is, therefore, probable that an ironbark 

 in the climate of Dubbo (250 miles from the coast) will take twice 

 as long to grow as the same species where the rainfall is twice as 

 great. Of course this is only surmise, and accurate observations 

 are required. 



It is, however, perfectly clear that if on the forest land of the 

 eastern slopes of the main range, where such land might be worth 

 one shilling per acre for grazing purposes, it will pay to grow 

 timber; then in the interior, near the railways, the poor ridges, 

 which are not worth one penny per acre, would if put under 

 cultivation for trees jdeld a very handsome profit indeed ; but it 

 must be understood that this expectation can only be realised if 

 care is taken in growing the trees. They must be started in 

 nurseries, planted out, and, until they have grown to a consider- 

 able size, must be properly fenced off and protected from the 

 browsing and ravages of animals and man. Strict measures must 

 also be taken to preserve them from injury or destruction by bush 

 fires. 



It is certain that if proper measures were taken a profitaljle 

 industry could be carried on, giving employment to large numbers 



