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near it, and in this type a rare opportunity is offered for the 

 practise of true forestry, because it is found in the accessible 

 lowlands where the hauling of tree products is easy, it is com- 

 ])Osed of a tree which is rarely injured by stock and has few 

 natural enemies, a tree which is readily spread by stock, and is 

 fast growing and capable of producing successive crops of valua- 

 ble wood every six years by sprout growth. 



The remaining three types, composed of native trees, are more 

 strictly protection forests and must be managed as such. 



2. The kukiii type corresponds in situation to the lower forest 

 zone of the botanist and in it the kukui tree strikes the eye as the 

 predominant tree in most situations, more especially in valleys and 

 lower slopes from about 1000 to 2000 feet in elevation. 



3. The ohia lehiia type corresponds to the middle forest zone 

 of the botanist, running up to 5000 feet above the sea and con- 

 stituting our ''rain" or water-producing forest, is consequently the 

 most important as well as the most extensive type. The ohia 

 lehua is the commonest tree in this type, although in certain 

 situations pure stands of koa and a variety of other native trees 

 may be found. This type, as a rule, constitutes our main pro- 

 tection forest which equalizes the runoff and because of this 

 it should be given the greatest protection against the inroads of 

 man and beast. 



-1-. The mauiani type occurs above the ohia lehua type but only 

 on the islands possessing the higher elevations of from 5000 to 

 10,000 feet. In it are found almost pure, rather open stands of 

 the native mamani tree with sometimes naio and occasionally koa 

 and ohia. It is our highest, extensive upland forest and is valua- 

 ble chiefly as a protection to the type just below it. 



The kukui and mamani types both serve in general as protec- 

 tive belts below and above to the water-producing ohia lehua 

 type. A great many variations may be found in all three types 

 and one may merge into the adjacent type in such a manner that 

 it is often difficult to tell where one begins and the other leaves 

 off. Nature has provided these intermediate or protective for- 

 ests as a requisite to the proper and natural protection of the 

 growth in the wet forests and if she had been heeded more 

 closely we would now be in possession of more extensive and 

 more serviceable protection forests. 



Character of the Indigenous Forest. 



If we examine closely the structure and composition of a typical 

 native, Hawaiian, wet forest in the ohia lehua type we find that 

 it is composed of slow-growing, shallow-rooted trees, climbing 

 vines, an undergrowth of bushes and ferns, and of low-growing 

 plants and mosses, an ideal ground cover combination for the 

 conservation of water. Practically all of the native trees have 

 a very shallow root system. A strong tap root is almost always 

 absent and the surface roots, spreading out just under the ground, 



