756 president's address. 



purposes, have no intelligent idea of planting. Hence they waste 

 money and time and then draw conclusions that it is useless to 

 proceed further. We have many ditticulties in regard to our 

 climate, but some are surmountable b}" properly directed energy. 

 I am of opinion that practical demonstrations in the country 

 •districts by skilled tree-planters from the Forestr}^ Department 

 on " How and when to plant a tree and how to care for it when 

 planted," would be the means of causing trees to be j^lanted where 

 they are most wanted, and whore they would be most cared for. 

 Such plantations would neither be a source of anxiety nor expense 

 to the State, though of great advantage to her citizens. 



The planting of trees in the Western plains is a question that 

 must receive serious attention at an eai'ly date. It is one that 

 should be undertaken or supervised by the Forestry Department, 

 a sub-branch of which should be responsible for plantations in 

 the arid west, the conditions being special. The object of tree 

 growing in such districts is not entirely for conversion into 

 timber— perhaps such an object is a subordinate one — but a very 

 important result would be the amelioration of the condition of 

 the residents in that trying climate. That being so, success is 

 not to be measured by the Treasury receipts from such forests. 

 As I believe that the desirability of tree planting in the Western 

 plains is not open to question, I have only to add that, in my 

 opinion, the work should be carried on from local State nurseries, 

 which should be attached to the existing Experiment farms at 

 Coolabah, Pera Bore (Bourke), and Moree. I would also have a 

 nursery at, say. Hay. In this way the trees would be grown 

 under conditions approximating to those they would have to grow 

 in. At present plants for the arid West are raised in nurseries 

 in the coast belt, with an annual rainfall of from 30 to 50 inches; 

 besides which they have to travel hundreds of miles to their 

 •destination. The results are frequently disastrous as far as the 

 establishment of sturdy trees is concerned ; it would be a matter 

 for surprise if it were otherwise. 



If one's knowledge of Australian forestry were confined to 

 what one sees in letters to the newspapers, one would imagine 



