84 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS —Sl'XTION C. 



genoits forest belonging to Government is only about 200,000 

 morgen, and besides that there are 35,000 morgen under planta- 

 tions. There is probably 25,000-50,000 morgen of private forest. 

 If the indigenous forest were as productive as a plantation, were 

 accessible, and produced timber of a kind that could be generally 

 used like imported pine, that area would suffice to meet our pre- 

 sent needs as well as our requirements during the next fifty 

 years, but that is far from being the case. 



The indigenous forests are found along the south and south- 

 east coastal belt, and on the slopes of the mountain ranges falling 

 within 100-150 miles of the sea, though in the Transvaal and in 

 parts of Natal they penetrate further inland. They generally 

 have a south or south-eastern aspect. In the Western Province, 

 where there is a purely winter rainfall, the forests are small and 

 detached, being mostly confined to sheltered kloofs, but as one 

 travels east the forests become more frequent, and between 

 George and Humansdorp the largest continuous stretch of forest 

 in the Union is 'found. There the rain falls all through the year. 



In the Eastern Province, the Transkei, Natal and the Trans- 

 vaal the rainfall is entirely a summer one, yet in general character 

 the forest differs little from that found in the west. 



Some new species come in, and the percentage of each 

 species present differs somewhat, but the variation is hardly so 

 marked as might be expected, considering the forests range from 

 34° S. Latitude to the Tropics in 23° S. Latitude. 



The indigenous forest is essentially a mixed forest, that is 

 to say, it consists of a large number of species growing together, 

 the composition oi the mixture varying according to the district, 

 elevation, soil and climate. Some species seem to appear in the 

 forests almost wherever forests occur ; such are Beukenhout 

 {Rapanca melanophelos) and Vlier {Nuxia florihunda). Others, 

 again, are less accommodating. Keur {Virgilia capensis) con- 

 fines itself to the coastal area from the Cape to Port Elizabeth, 

 and seems to avoid the summer rainfall zone. Kamassi (Gonioma 

 kamassi) is abundant in the Knysna forests, and is found occa- 

 sionally along the coast as far as East London. It does not. 

 however, occur in the Transkei, Natal, nor, I believe, in the 

 Transvaal. It is reported, however, to occur in Rhodesia. The 

 true South African Box (Buxus macozmni) is absent from the 

 Knysna forests, but is fairly abundant at Alexandria and near 

 East London, and in one or two Transkeian forests. Else- 

 where it is missing. Stinkwood (Ocofea bullata) occurs in the 

 Cape Peninsula. Knysna, Transkeian, Natal and Transvaal 

 forests, but seems most vigorous in Knysna. In the Eastern 

 Province it is practically missing from the forests, though when 

 the Pirie forests were recently worked an isolated group of fine 

 Stinkwood was discovered. Though Stinkwood and Sneezewood 

 (Ptaeroxylon utile) refuse to meet at Knysna, and hardly know 

 one another in the Eastern Province, they grow to great perfec- 

 tion side by side in the Transkeian forests along with Yellows- 

 wood. The Yellowwoods {Podooarpus thunhcrgii and P. elun- 

 gata) are foimd to a greater or less extent in the larger proper- 



