66 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. iv 



planted and owned by the City Water Board are a valuable source of 

 revenue. In South Australia the success of this Pine is assured, indeed it 

 has made the reputation of the Forestry Department. Seventy-three and 

 a half acres of Insignis Pine, the oldest 36 and the youngest 33 years of age, 

 were felled clean and yielded 4,117,914 superficial feet of lumber which 

 sold at $2.50 per 100 superficial feet and realized over $100,000. The 

 capital outlay per acre with compound interest at 4j/£ per cent included 

 was reckoned at $320, the gross returns at $1490, leaving a net profit of 



$1170 per acre. 



On leaving Australia it had become a settled conviction in my mind 

 that for rate of growth in annual timber increment no planted conifer 

 could excel Insignis Pine at Macedon and on the Canterbury Plains. 

 It was left for Cape Town to shatter this conviction but with the same 

 species of Pine. The Conservator of Forests, Charles R. Ross, took me 

 to his forestry station at Tokai. There I saw trees 33 years old that were 

 138 feet tall and 10 feet in girth. Two stands of this Pine had been felled 

 at 29 years of age and yielded respectively 7,972 and 7,721 cubic feet of 

 timber per acre. During the war the Government sold about 160 acres 

 of Insignis Pine and the sum realized was approximately $350,000. At 

 from 12 to 15 years of age this tree is large enough to yield boxwood; at 

 40 years of age a fully-stocked wood of Insignis Pine on good soil is esti- 

 mated to yield from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet of timber per acre. 



At the Cape and in Australia and New Zealand the wood of the Insignis 

 Pine is not strong or durable in contact with the soil. But it is tough, 

 virtually free from resin and useful for fruit-boxes; it is also good wood for 

 match-boardings, ceilings, joinery, packing-cases and in general for pur- 

 poses where strength and durability are not required. In short it yields 

 cheaply and quickly a class of timber necessary and in great demand in 

 all these lands. The rapid growth and usefulness of this tree is now an 

 established fact in the antipodes. That it will not thrive in all parts of 

 this region is absolutely certain, but that it will probably be found to 

 flourish over wider areas than so far have been experimented with is 

 equally certain. Over great areas in Australia and only slightly lesser 

 ones in New Zealand and South Africa, Insignis Pine will yield three 

 crops per century of merchantable timber of a class necessary for the 

 development of the industries of these countries. Where it is found to 

 flourish no more useful softwood tree can be planted in these southern 

 lands. Its natural regeneration is good and New Zealand is now the main 



source of seed supply. 



Of little merit in its native land this Pine was introduced into England 

 in 1831-32 by David Douglas who gave it the manuscript name of Pinus 

 insignis. Soon afterward further material was received and David Don 

 described and published it in 1S35 under the name of Pinus radiata. It 

 is a handsome tree with dense blackish green leaves, stout branches, a 

 broad pyramidal outline when young but ultimately with an open round- 



