598 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



PRACTICAL SYLVICULTURE. 



By A. Tatham. 



By the heading of this article is understood the production and 

 tending of forests" from the seed stage until the time the trees are 

 ready to be felled. 



My remarks will, of course, be restricted chiefly to trees indi- 

 genous to Victoria; but occasion may arise, for the sake of illustra- 

 tion, for reference to exotic species. 



The success of forestry naturally depends on the selection of 

 species, but in Victoria it will be a matter of selection of varieties, 

 as the native trees are, with few exceptions, all of the same family. 

 Here a forester at once overcomes one of the most difficult questions 

 to be dealt with in forming a forest. A mixture of species, therefore, 

 need never trouble him in Victoria. 



Before starting operations the question of future management has 

 to be considered. Here again the indigenous species facilitate 

 matters, the eucalyptus being a most obliging tree. All the varieties 

 can be converted into sawn timber, most of them coppice, and with 

 few exceptions, they make good fuel. Still there are many points to 

 be considered, where the Australian forests must naturally be worked 

 in accordance with sylvicultural systems to enable them to produce an 

 annual yield without deterioration. 



As some exotic plantations do exist in the State an effort will be 

 made to formulate these remarks so as to cover their tending and 

 formation. 



Formation of Forests- 



Forests can be formed in many different ways, according to what 

 is required of them in after life. Natural regeneration and artificial 

 formation are the two heads under which the different methods are 

 classed. 



Natural Regenekation. 



Under this head we consider regeneration by seed, and by suckers 

 and shoots. The eucalyptus family can be successfully raised in this 

 manner. 



Natural regeneration by seed is the formation of a new forest by 

 the fall of seed from what are called mother trees, standing either on 

 the area or adjoining it. In a primeval forest, when a tree falls from 

 old age, an opening is made in the overhead cover or leaf canopy, 

 seeds from the adjoining trees falling in the space made by this tree 

 germinate ; they grow up, and in turn produce seed. In this way 

 forests are kept up by nature, but the process is a slow one, and 

 thousands of seeds and seedlings are annually destroyed. Sylvicul- 

 ture here steps in to assist nature by accelerating the regeneration. 



