ob PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 



of the Union. If the Union is not to continue importing timber 

 for ever, and to remain dependent on other countries for its sup- 

 plies, it must form adequate artificial forests. There is no other 

 remedy. The Forest Department has realised this position for 

 many years, and the matter was prominently brought to the 

 public notice by Hutchins when he was Conserv^ator at the Cape 

 between 1896 and 1906. The subject was then regarded as the 

 meritorious fad of a few enthusiasts, but of late years the pro- 

 paganda work of the Comte \'asselot de Regne. Lister, Hutchins. 

 McNaughton, and other pioneers has begun to bear fruit, and is 

 reflected in the better provision made by Parliament nowadays 

 for afiforestation. It will no doubt be suggested by some that, 

 as South Africa is so poorly wooded naturally, it would seem 

 risky, to say the least of it, to embark on afforestation. If the 

 country were adapted for the growth the trees would have been 

 there. 



Luckily it is jx>ssible to meet this theory with facts. Exotic 

 trees producing softwood of the kind this country requires are, 

 and have been, grown in plantation form to maturity or to com- 

 mercial size under varying conditions. Why it is that large 

 tracts which are capable of aft'orestation with exotic trees are 

 devoid of natural forest is a matter for speculation, and one for 

 which it is difficult to find a satisfactory solution. I know of 

 many places in the Cape Province where the Cluster pine, as 

 long as fires are excluded, spreads itself vigorously and matures, 

 yet on the same ground there is no vestige of a native forest ex- 

 cept in the deep kloofs, nor has there ever been any since the 

 first Dutch settlers arrived in the country. These are places. tot>, 

 where there is a heavy regular seasonal rainfall. I have in mind 

 the valley of the Berg River, Genadentlal and the Cape Peninsula. 



Other people maintain that if plantations are required they 

 should be composed of native trees, as native trees having grown 

 for centuries in South Africa must be better suited to its climatic 

 conditions. This attitude seems entirely reasonable, but what 

 I have just stated rather disposes of it. Native trees, at least 

 nf the more valuable kinds, such as Yellowwood. seem to require 

 a certain degree of shade and shelter, at any rate in early youth, 

 to establish themselves, and as this is generally almo.st entirely 

 absent on the class of land that has to be planted, they cannot 

 well be used for afforestation. Planted on bare hillsides exposed 

 to the full effect of sun and wind they would, if they lived, make 

 such slow progress that the cost of cleaning and cultivation would 

 remove any prospect of them proving a profitable crop. In 

 selected sheltered bottom lands it is no doubt possible to raise 

 small groves successfully, but for general commercial afforesta- 

 tion native trees must be ruled out. 



It being admitted that it is possible to grow in this country 

 a large proportion of the timber now imported or of timber to 

 replace it. it remains to inquire what area should be afforested 

 to carry this object into effect, and what has so far been done in 

 that direction in the past, and what it is planned lo do in the 

 future. 



