Establishment and Tending of Timber Plantations 167 



Cr^tomeria japonica is one of the most valuable timber trees of 

 Japan. Suited to moist localities only, and likes granite 

 soils. 



BROAD-LEAVED SPECIES. 



This is a very large class and contains the Eucalypts, the 

 Wattles, the Oaks, the Poplars, etc. We can subdivide this class 

 into deciduous and non-deciduous. 



Deciduous. 



The Poplars produce a light, yet comparatively strong, soft 

 timber easily worked and seasoned and they yield light poles and 

 sticks suitable for many purposes such as hut building. As a 

 w^ood for matches it stands out pre-eminently as the one most 

 suitable and for paper-pulp it has few rivals. In addition sawn 

 poplar timber is very suitable for building conshuction and many 

 other commercial purposes, such as for packing cases, fruit and 

 other boxes, in fact, it is such a generally useful and valuable 

 timber that it should be planted to the exclusion of all other trees 

 wherever the factors of a locality suit it. These factors are rich 

 bottom lands where the supply of permanent moisture is good, or 

 a deep moisture-retentive soil. In the drier districts waste places 

 along river banks in an open, gravelly or sandy soil, near vleis, 

 etc., where a good deal of subsoil moisture is available, suit its 

 growth very well, but it does not like stagnant moisture. They 

 thrive equally well in summer and winter rainfall areas and en- 

 dure a considerable amount of frost. 



Popuhis canescens (the Grey or White Poplar), is the one most 

 commonly seen. It should not be grown near orchards, 

 gardens or other cultivated lands, as it spreads by means of 

 root suckers, but is useful owing to this characteristic for 

 planting in dongas to prevent erosion. Propagated by 

 means of root-suckers. 

 Populus serotina (Black Italian Poplar) and Populus deltoidea 

 var. missouriensis (True Carolina Poplar) are faster grow- 



