90 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 



9.500 miles. That will probably be doubled in 50 years, so that 

 if there is a sleeper to every yard, a mile of track will contain 

 4,400 cubic feet; and the railway system of 19,000 miles, 19,00 X 

 4400 = 83,600,000 cubic feet 



If the sleepers were all hardwood, and renewed every 15 

 years, the annual consumption of timber per niile would be 293 

 cubic feet, and for the whole system 5,567.000 cubic feet. Assum- 

 ing that a Eucalypt plantation yields 200 cubic feet per acre per 

 annum (and measurements show that this is a reasonable figure) 

 the Railway Administration would require 27,834 acres of plan- 

 tation to meet their requirements for sleepers alone. Hardwoods 

 are used for many other purposes besides sleepers, and therefore 

 their cultivation should not be neglected. Probably the Union 

 will be able to absorb in 50 years' time the product of 50,000 

 acres. 



The Cape Province was the pioneer in plantation work in 

 South Africa. The first Government plantation was started by 

 Lister at Worcester in 1876, and consisted of Blue Gum 

 (Eucalyptus globulus). The plantation, 72 acres in extent, was 

 grown under irrigation, and it was formed with the idea of pro- 

 viding fuel for locomotives. It was. however, sold in 1892-1895 

 to De Beers for mine timber, and yielded a profit of £4,338 (ex- 

 clusive of interest charges). The re-growth was sold during 

 1916 and 1917, and the plantation finally disposed oif to the 

 Municipality, the second rotation having yielded a nett return 

 of £2 I OS. per acre per annum. Encouraged by the success at 

 Worcester, plantations on a larger scale were started in 1883 ^^ 

 Concordia, Knysna, in 1884 at Tokai and Kluitjes Kraal, and 

 in 1889 at Fort Cunynghame in ihe Eastern Province. Different 

 kinds of trees from all over the world were tested at these cen- 

 tres, as well as difl:"erent methods of sylviculture. Little was 

 known then of many of the trees experimented with, and infor- 

 mation on the subject in the absence of adequate literature was 

 difficult to procure. Sylvicultural practice which had proved to 

 be successful in other countries was found by bitter experience 

 to fail here, e.g. in 1884 it was considered unnecessary to kill 

 ofif the natural veld as a preparation for planting. The conse- 

 quence was the young trees died wholesale, and it was only when 

 the approved European method was jettisoned that success re- 

 sulted. Planting espacements were often wide, 20 feet apart 

 each way, but there is evidence in the shape of underplantings 

 in some of the old stands of trees that the foresters of those days 

 early realised their mistake. 



Among the trees planted was Pinus insignis. There was a 

 specimen of it growing in the Gardens at Cape Town, and the 

 Conservator (Lister), attracted by its appearance, thought he 

 would test it on the slopes of Tokai. He did so, and the trees 

 then planted succeeded so well that it was possible recently to 

 arrange for their sale. Many of the trees are now over 100 

 feet in height and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. 



South Africa owes a great debt of gratitude to these pioneers 

 of forestry — Harison. Comte Vasselot de Regne. Hutchins, Lister. 



